A developer of small nuclear reactors said Wednesday it was canceling a project that was widely expected to usher in a new wave of power plants.
NuScale Power, a company in Portland, Oregon, said it lacked enough subscribers to move forward with the Carbon-Free Power Project, which was supposed to supply six of the company’s 77-megawatt reactors. Although more than two dozen utilities had committed to buying power from the reactors that would be located in Idaho, that number fell short of what NuScale deemed necessary moving forward.
The Carbon-Free Power Project was the result of an agreement between NuScale and Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems, which provides electricity to public electric utilities in seven western states, including California. The project was first proposed in 2014.
“This decision is very disappointing given years of hard pioneering work,” said Mason Baker, executive director of Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems. “We are working closely with NuScale and the U.S. Department of Energy on the next steps to deliver the project.”
The decision to cancel the project followed an update from NuScale this year on the cost of building the reactors, which had risen from $5.3 billion to $9.3 billion due to rising interest rates and inflation.
NuScale needed to triple the number of customers for the Carbon-Free Power Project by February. The company, which also has an agreement to supply its technology to Romania, told investors that it will reuse the materials developed for the Carbon-Free Power Project for other customers.
NuScale’s stock price fell more than 20 percent to $2.37 in after-hours trading. Its value has fallen by more than 70 percent in the last 12 months.