NuScale, the American company behind the development of the forthcoming Small Modular Reactor (SMR), has made a push to bring their potentially revolutionary technology to Canada. Last month the company submitted the first of four proposals to the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (the CNSC) for a review of their SMR design as a way to streamline the potential implementation of their technology on Canadian soil.
Based out of Oregon, NuScale has been working closely with Idaho National Labs to bring the Small Modular Reactor design to life in the United States, but the NRC, the American version of the CNSC, has traditionally been slower to move on decisions within the nuclear industry than their neighbor to the north. With the submission of the first vendor design review, NuScale hopes to have more immediate success with the Canadian government. “This pre-licensing process allows our design to be reviewed by another highly respected regulator, the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission”, John Hopkins, NuScale CEO, said, “And we look forward to their thorough evaluation of our innovative safety features. We are thrilled to continue our path to introduce our scalable, economic, carbon-free, and safe SMR technology to Canadian customers.”
This initial submittal covers four highlight areas of interest: general plant description; classification of structures, systems, and components; vendor research and development program; & design process and quality assurance.
As a company built on efficiency and innovation, OTEK has long kept a close eye on technological developments within the nuclear industry, such as the Small Modular Reactor. That’s essentially what led our creation of the industry’s first Solid State Analog Meter, or SSAM—our answer to rising cybersecurity concerns as older nuclear plants move toward digital instrumentation. The SSAM was designed to be exempt from the cybersecurity provisions listed by the NRC under NEI 08-09, by way of containing no critical digital assets such as microprocessors. By welding our advanced digital technology to analog hardware, we’ve made the SSAM immune to the current capabilities of criminal hackers.
In addition to cybersecurity provisions, the SSAM also features signal and external power options (4-20mA current loops, V/A AC/DC, Watts & Hertz signal options), OTEK’s patented signal failure alarm that notifies an operator in the event of a signal or power loss over a minute long, a 4 ½ digit 0.6” LED display at 0.1% accuracy, optional isolated H.V> SPDT alarms for enunciator panel lamps and 4-20mA outputs, and our unique “One Size Fits All” scale plate design which allows for unlimited custom color displays that are as easy to interchange as removing the scale plate and sliding in another.
If NuScale’s design proposal is met with success up north, perhaps the American nuclear fleet will follow suit and usher in a whole new decade of nuclear technological growth.
For more information on the SSAM or OTEK’s nuclear effort, please call 520-748-7900 or email our sales department at sales@otekcorp.com