Nuclear power project in Idaho is canceled

A developer of small nuclear reactors announced this on Wednesday it was canceling a project which was widely expected to herald a new wave of power plants.

NuScale Power, a company in Portland, Oregon, said it did not have enough subscribers to cover the Carbon-free energy project, which was expected to supply six of the company’s 77 megawatt reactors. Although more than two dozen utilities had signed up to buy electricity from the reactors, which would be located in Idaho, that number fell short of what NuScale said it needed to move forward.

The Carbon-Free Power Project was the result of an agreement between NuScale and Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems, which supplies electricity to public utilities in seven western states, including California. The project came first proposed in 2014.

“This decision is very disappointing given the years of groundbreaking hard work,” said Mason Baker, CEO of Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems. “We are working closely with NuScale and the U.S. Department of Energy on the next steps to complete the project.”

The decision to cancel the project followed an update from NuScale this year about 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 should have tripled 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 it would reuse 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 past twelve months.