AREVA to manufacture SMR fuel assemblies for NuScale

AREVA, Inc., and NuScale have reached an agreement in which AREVA will manufacture fuel assemblies for NuScale's small modular reactor (SMR), AREVA said on Wednesday.

Under the agreement, AREVA will supply the reactors' initial cores and reloads.

“AREVA continues to provide critical support to NuScale as we bring our groundbreaking small modular reactor design to the market,” Dale Atkinson, NuScale’s chief operating officer and chief nuclear officer, said. “As a result of this latest agreement, NuScale will be offering our customers nuclear fuel fabricated by AREVA, a firm with a strong reputation of excellence in fuel fabrication.”

SMR assemblies are currently in development, undergoing mechanical and thermal hydraulic testing.

NuScale's proposed SMR  design is expected to be submitted to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) in 2016 for regulatory approval.

“At AREVA, our customers’ needs are a fundamental driver for innovation,” Ron Land, senior vice president of AREVA’s fuel business line, U.S. region, said. “We are proud to utilize our teams’ expertise, decades of experience and focus on operational excellence to support NuScale in its work in the development of new nuclear technology.”

AREVA is an international company operating within multiple areas of the nuclear generation industry.