Small modular reactor project in Idaho to be canceled

The power utility Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems (UAMPS), and the reactor company NuScale, have announced intentions to cancel the Carbon Free Power Project, a small modular reactor (SMR) project they planned to build at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL).

David Schlissel, director of resource planning analysis at the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA), said, “We're happy for the communities and ratepayers who have dodged a huge financial debacle as a result of the cancellation of NuScale and UAMPS' proposed SMR project.” 

Schlissel, who had also previously done a critical analysis of the project, added, "As we have repeatedly shown, this project and the other SMRs that are being hyped by the nuclear industry and its allies are simply too late, too expensive, too uncertain, and too risky. There are less risky and more proven alternatives for addressing growing energy needs and the global warming crisis.”

Rusty Cannon, the president of the Utah Taxpayers Association, welcomed this decision. He said, “As we have said for many years, taxpayer-funded entities should not be acting as venture capitalists on risky projects, no matter what the nature of the project is. This welcome news for taxpayers in Utah confirms what reasonable voices surrounding this project have known and spoken about for years- that it was doomed to fail.”