Staying power: nuclear has proven a safe, reliable and environmentally friendly contributor to the state's energy needs.

• Author: Blake, Kathy
• Position: SPONSORED SECTION: ENERGIZED

Large nuclear reactors can cost $7 billion and require 500 people to build and activate. Portland, Ore.-based NuScale Power LLC, which has an office in Charlotte, is developing a less expensive alternative. Its small modular reactor will cost $2.7 billion and need a construction crew of only 368. "If I look at the size of the containment dome of a large reactor, I can fit probably 120 of my reactors in that containment building... which gives us an advantage in manufacturing," says Nils Breckenridge of NuScale's business development department. "I can manufacture in a factory and deliver the modules to the site, so construction becomes much easier. And timewise, you're looking at three years construction instead of five."

NuScale contracted with the U.S. Department of Energy in May 2014 for funding for SMR development, licensing and commercialization. After more than 65 presentations to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and 14 reports, it submitted its design certification application in December 2016. It has plans for a dozen SMRs. The first is scheduled to go online in Idaho by 2024. "There are people who are interested, but they're making sure that before [SMRs] become public that they have a sound basis for doing so based on economic research and outreach," he says.

Nuclear has produced electricity safely and reliably for decades. SMRs will help ensure it remains part of a changing energy map that now includes renewables and friendlier fossil fuels such as natural gas. "A decade ago, nuclear was thought to be a real growth industry in the U.S., and it has turned out not to be that," says David Doctor, president and CEO of E4 Carolinas, the Charlotte-based trade association that represents Carolina energy companies. "Natural gas has taken the lead, and nuclear projects have become more cosdy and taken longer to build. It's easier to build a natural-gas power plant, but here's the rub: We're finding that natural-gas power plants still produce carbon and contribute to methane entering the environment. Nuclear plants don't."

John Gilligan is a nuclear engineering professor and College of Engineering executive associate dean at N.C. State University. He also directs the DOE's Nuclear Energy University Program Integration Office. He says there will always be a need to generate base-load electricity, the minimum level of demand on a grid over 24 hours. "Natural gas is cheap right now, but it's not always considered base load. Nuclear still has...