Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems (UAMPS) and NuScale Power Corp. (NuScale) have mutually agreed to terminate the Carbon Free Power Project (CFPP), a small modular reactor (SMR) project that was planned for construction on Idaho National Laboratory (INL) property near Idaho Falls, Idaho.
“Despite significant efforts by both parties to advance the CFPP, it appears unlikely that the project will have enough subscription to continue toward deployment. Therefore, UAMPS and NuScale have mutually determined that ending the project is the most prudent decision for both parties,” the developers said in an announcement issued on Nov. 8.
UAMPS is a political subdivision of the State of Utah that provides comprehensive wholesale electric-energy, transmission, and other energy services, on a nonprofit basis, to 50 community-owned power systems throughout the Intermountain West, including in Utah, California, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, and Wyoming. The CFPP was a major project for UAMPS. At one point in time, it was envisioned to be a 720-MWe power plant comprised of 12 NuScale SMR power modules. As time progressed and member subscriptions for plant production lagged expectations, the project was scaled back to six modules with a combined capacity of 462 MWe.
* Sawtooth Energy and Development, an independently owned energy developer in Idaho, plans to build a 462-MW nuclear power plant in southern Idaho, according to local news reports and a draft environmental impact statement. * The plant would take shape on public land previously earmarked for LS Power’s 1-GW Lava Ridge wind farm and use an Idaho Power substation that would have connected its turbines to the Western U.S. grid. President Trump halted Lava Ridge on his first day in office.
And… Midpoint Small Modular Reactor Project #1 would use six 77-MW NuScale VOYGR modules to produce an electric output of 462 MW, according to the draft EIS dated July 31, 2025, and posted on Sawtooth’s website.
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Since NuScale uprated the VOYGR reactor from the previous 50 MWe to 77 MWe, the economics for building has improved. However, inflation has caused everything to be more expensive, so that is a negative. On the other hand, the demand for power keeps going up, so some type of new capacity will be needed in the future.
Has NuScale actually built anything anywhere? It seems like the wrong horse to be riding if an entity really wants something to be delivered on budget on time. And the draft EIS is dated 7/31/25? Today is only 7/15/25.
NuScale does not have any nuclear reactors currently in operation anywhere. However, they were the first SMR to receive a design certification from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Since then, NuScale has uprated their first design to a slightly larger 77 MWe single unit. They will ideally supply 6 or 12 separate reactors at a single site.
NuScale has also built a test bed at Oregon State University to verify the safety design of the concept. The test bed uses electric heaters instead of an actual nuclear core, to simulate the heat output from the reactor in various configurations. They have also conducted fuel testing at locations in Canada and Germany, to verify their fuel thermo-hydraulic design under steady state and accident conditions. They seem to know what they are doing. It is not easy getting a design certification from the NRC.