Despite the recent cancellation of a next-generation U.S. nuclear plant, backers of the carbon-free power source remain hopeful new projects will come online by the end of the decade.
Late last year, the U.S. energy company NuScale announced it was pulling the plug on a small modular reactor (SMR) project in the western state of Idaho.
The project — the sole SMR design yet to be approved by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission — faced exploding costs that took the estimated price from $5.3 billion up to $9.3 billion.