Fulton Sun

The U.S. Department of Energy this week announced a new federal grant to develop small modular nuclear reactors.

The federal agency announced it has decided to make available up to one-half of the $452 million authorized last year by Congress in one new grant worth up to $226 million.

Like the initial grant, the new proposal requires 50-50 industry cost sharing with the federal government for SMR development.

Last year the federal agency awarded the first grant with an unspecified amount to develop small modular nuclear reactors to a project in Tennessee led by Babcock & Wilcox Corporation in partnership with the federal-government-owned Tennessee Valley Authority and the Bechtel Corporation.