Cranberry Township, Pa.-based Westinghouse Electric Company’s Principal Design Criteria (PDC) for its eVinci microreactor recently received approval from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC).
“Approval of our PDC topical report gives our customers confidence that the eVinci microreactor can be licensed for deployment in a highly streamlined and repeatable manner,” Jon Ball, president of eVinci Technologies at Westinghouse, said Monday. “This will allow customers to take advantage of the eVinci microreactor’s small size and transportability to rapidly deploy when and where they need them for cost-competitive and resilient power.”
PDCs, which are an integral part of the federal licensing process, define a reactor’s design bases, or how each part of the reactor’s structures, systems, and components will function, according to , and they ensure that the design conforms to design bases outlined in NRC regulations.
NRC’s approval of these PDCs provides a clear path to licensing the eVinci microreactor for deployment, and simplifies and streamlines the licensing process for customers, the company said.
The eVinci microreactor builds on decades of Westinghouse innovation to provide carbon-free, safe, and scalable energy for a variety of applications, including for data centers, the oil and gas industry, mining operations, remote communities, universities, industrial centers, and defense facilities, Westinghouse said.
The microreactor has very few moving parts, working essentially as a battery, providing the versatility for power systems ranging from several kilowatts to 5 megawatts of electricity, delivered 24 hours a day, seven days a week for eight-plus years without refueling. The technology is factory-built and assembled before it is shipped in a container, added the company.