Modular Nuclear Reactor Vendors Cut Funding

Modular reactor developer scales back 

B& W cuts development, funding by 90 percent due to lack of customers and lack of investors.  (Imagine that...)  "Babcock & Wilcox will slash its spending on the mPower

Westinghouse SMR
(small modular reactor) Concept
source: NRC

small modular reactor project, having failed to find customers or investors."  

"With the DoE arrangement now one year old, B&W hoped to have secured a number of utility customers for the small reactor as well as investors keen to take a majority share in its development. Spokesperson Aimee Mills told World Nuclear News that B&W had been unsuccessful in these aims, "There was interest from customers and interest from investors, but none have signed on the dotted line." "

Also, from the same article:   "In February this year (2014) Westinghouse announced it would scale back its development of its 225 MWe small modular reactor design, having lost out in the DoE competition."  see link from World Nuclear News, 4/14/14 

As posted earlier on SLB, small, modular nuclear reactors have little chance (zero, actually) of competing in the market due to the adverse effects of economy of scale (it's more expensive to make smaller plants) that outweigh any benefits from modularized construction.  see link to earlier SLB article. 

Roger E. Sowell, Esq.
Marina del Rey, California