CLASS OF 2016
WORLD-GENERATION FEBRUARY/MARCH 2016
23
John Hopkins had been a corporate
officer at Fluor Corporation for 12 years
when he was asked to lead the effort at
NuScale Power, a company formed in 2007
to develop a passively cooled, small modu-
lar nuclear reactor based on research origi-
nally funded by the Department of Energy.
John has been leading the company as its
chief executive officer since 2012.
The company’s design, after more than
15 years of work, is now poised for full-
scale commercial development with the
February announcement from DOE that it
had awarded a site use permit to Utah
Associated Municipal Power Systems
(UAMPS) for a project in Idaho. This site
use permit allows UAMPS to conduct stud-
ies and eventually build the first NuScale
SMR plant within the boundary of the
Idaho National Laboratory.
The venture began in 2000 when DOE
paid a visit to Oregon State University
(OSU). Dr. Jose Reyes, who was then the
head of the Department of Nuclear
Engineering and Radiation Health Physics
there, was asked if he could lead the devel-
opment of a small nuclear reactor that
would be funded by DOE.
By 2003, Dr. Reyes concluded there
could be commercial applications and, with
aid provided by OSU, his team built a one-
third scale electrically-heated version of a
plant as a test facility for their design.
In 2007, the university granted NuScale
Power, which Dr. Reyes had recently found-
ed, exclusive rights to the nuclear power
plant design, as well as the continued use of
the test facility, through a technology trans-
fer agreement. In 2008, NuScale began
ongoing dialogs with the Nuclear
Regulatory Commission which have contin-
ued to the present. Dr. Reyes is now
NuScale’s chief technology officer.
One of Fluor’s business groups, which
included Hopkins, got wind of the effort in
2011 and following three Fluor board meet-
ings the company decided to become the
primary investor in NuScale. In March
2013, NuScale responded to a DOE solicita-
tion to fund the development of a small
modular nuclear reactor. In December 2013
DOE announced an award of $217 million in
matching funds over five years to NuScale,
which had beaten out five competitors and
the contract was signed in April 2014.
With solid funding in hand, Hopkins was
asked to lead the development effort and
become NuScale’s CEO. He accepted the
offer and took early retirement from Fluor.
By the end of 2015, Fluor had invested more
than $300 million in NuScale’s effort.
“If you look at energy requirements in
2030, based on the world population and
with the focus on reducing green-house
gases, could you imagine no nuclear
plants,” Hopkins asked. “It has to be part of
the supply chain,” he concluded.
At the time of his retirement from
Fluor, Hopkins had been with the company
for 24 years and served from 2010 to 2012
as group president for the Corporate
Development and New Ventures Group.
Today, in addition to being CEO of
NuScale, Hopkins is currently serving as
vice chairman of the board of directors of
the US Chamber of Commerce in
Washington DC.
The NuScale small modular reactor is
designed as an advanced light-water reactor
intended to deployed in multiples each of
which can be operated independently with-
in a multi-module configuration. The reac-
tors operate inside a water-filled pool built
below grade, and operate using natural cir-
culation. “There are no pumps and no need
for emergency generators,” said Hopkins.
The system uses a convection process to
circulate water through the reactor. Up to
12 50MWe (gross) modules can be moni-
tored and operated from a single control
room. For a fuller description of how the
reactor will operate, go to the company’s
website,
On February 19, DOE announced that
it had granted a site use permit to UAMPS.
The permit allows the Salt Lake City-based
energy cooperative to find an ideal location
for the reactor on the DOE’s 890-square-
mile Idaho National Laboratory (INL) site.
The project will be based on NuScale
Power’s design. Hopkins said this is a
major milestone for NuScale, and is a testa-
ment to DOE wanting the development to
reach commercial reality.
UAMPS, a political subdivision of the
State of Utah, is made up of 45 municipal
utility members from Arizona, California,
Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon,
Utah, and Wyoming. Hopkins said 34
members have signed up to buy power
from the new plant.
Hopkins said NuScale will submit its
design to the NRC for certification by the
fourth quarter of this year. Four sites are
being evaluated at the INL site. He predict-
ed site preparation will be complete in 2018
and the plant could be operational by 2024.
The cost of a twelve unit plant to the
first customer will be $2.8 to $2.9 billion.
With multiple customers and full manufac-
turing capability, the costs will go down,
Hopkins said. In contrast, a large nuclear
plant costs $16 billion, he said.
What Hopkins likes about NuScale’s
design is its scalability. Twelve modular
50MWe (gross) modules can be built for a
total of 600MWe (gross), and each module
is independent of the other. “You can start
generating power with two while continuing
to build the next modules,” he said.
Other features Hopkins touts: each
module core contains less than 5% of fuel in
a large reactor. The nuclear core is 1/20th
the size of the large reactor. Fuel assem-
blies, at roughly 2 meters in length, are half
the height of those in a large reactor. While
refueling could be done every four years, it
will actually be done every two years due to
an NRC requirement for equipment inspec-
tion. Overall NuScale power modules are
smaller, simpler, safer, and more economic.
“A lot of what large reactors need, we don’t
need,” he said.
JOHN HOPKINS
Chairman & CEO
NuScale Power
