NuScale Power LLC (NuScale) proudly announced the opening of the fourth NuScale Energy Exploration (E2) Center in collaboration with Idaho State University in Pocatello, ID. The E2 Center, to be called the Reactor Control Room & Simulator Lab, will give students of the university’s College of Technology the opportunity to learn about the innovative features and functionality unique to NuScale’s small modular reactor (SMR) technology.
The Reactor Control Room & Simulator Lab will offer users an exciting hands-on learning opportunity to apply nuclear science and engineering principles through simulated, real-world nuclear power plant operation scenarios. The lab uses state-of-the-art computer modeling within a simulator of the NuScale VOYGR™ SMR power plant control room, allowing users to take on the role of “control room operator” at a NuScale VOYGR-12 plant. It will also provide a means to conduct outreach to the community through demonstrations, tours, and education for community leaders, K-12 students, and interested citizens.
The launch of the newest E2 center comes as NuScale continues to prepare for the commercial deployment of a VOYGR power plant for the Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems’ Carbon Free Power Project at the Idaho National Laboratory in nearby Idaho Falls.
This is the fourth E2 Center NuScale has unveiled with university partners. The first E2 Center opened at Oregon State University in November 2020, followed by a second at the University of Idaho at the Center for Advanced Energy Studies (CAES) in August 2021. The third center is located at Texas A&M’s Engineering Experiment Station and opened in November 2021. Plans are also under way for the first international E2 Center in collaboration with the U.S. and Romanian governments at the University Politehnica of Bucharest, highlighting the rapidly growing global support for NuScale’s SMR technology as the premier clean energy solution around the world.
The first U.S. E2 Centers are supported by a 2019 U.S. Department of Energy grant to broaden the understanding of advanced nuclear technology in a control room setting and provide students, researchers, operators, and members of the public opportunities to engage in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) research and education.
