Financial Assistance Funding Opportunity Announcement

Financial Assistance Funding Opportunity Announcement

FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE

FUNDING OPPORTUNITY ANNOUNCEMENT

U.S. Department of Energy

[IDAHO OPERATIONS OFFICE]

COST-SHARED INDUSTRY PARTNERSHIP PROGRAM

for

SMALL MODULAR REACTORS

Funding Opportunity Number: DE-FOA-0000371

Announcement Type: Initial

CFDA Number: 81.121

Issue Date: March 22, 2012

Letter of Intent Due Date: April 20, 2012

Pre-Application Due Date: Not Applicable

Application Due Date: May 21, 2012 at 8:00:00 PM Eastern Time

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PART I – FUNDING OPPORTUNITY DESCRIPTION 1

A. SUMMARY 1

B. BACKGROUND 3

C. STATEMENT OF OBJECTIVES 5

PART II – AWARD INFORMATION 10

A. TYPE OF AWARD INSTRUMENT 10

B. ESTIMATED FUNDING 10

C. MAXIMUM AND MINIMUM AWARD SIZE 11

D. EXPECTED NUMBER OF AWARDS 11

E. ANTICIPATED AWARD SIZE 11

F. PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE 11

G. TYPE OF APPLICATION 11

PART III – ELIGIBILITY INFORMATION 12

A. ELIGIBLE APPLICANTS 12

B. COST SHARING 12

C. OTHER ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS 12

PART IV – APPLICATION AND SUBMISSION INFORMATION 13

A. ADDRESS TO REQUEST APPLICATION PACKAGE 13

B. LETTER OF INTENT AND PRE-APPLICATION 14

C. CONTENT AND FORM OF APPLICATION – SF 424 14

D. SUBMISSIONS FROM SUCCESSFUL APPLICANTS 24

E. SUBMISSION DATES AND TIMES 24

F. INTERGOVERNMENTAL REVIEW 25

G. FUNDING RESTRICTIONS 25

H. OTHER SUBMISSION AND REGISTRATION REQUIREMENTS 25

PART V – APPLICATION REVIEW INFORMATION 27

A. CRITERIA 27

B. REVIEW AND SELECTION PROCESS 30

C. ANTICIPATED NOTICE OF SELECTION AND AWARD DATES 31

PART VI – AWARD ADMINISTRATION INFORMATION 31

A. AWARD NOTICES 31

B. ADMINISTRATIVE AND NATIONAL POLICY REQUIREMENTS 32

C. REPORTING 35

PART VII – QUESTIONS/AGENCY CONTACTS 35

A. QUESTIONS 35

B. AGENCY CONTACT 35

PART VIII – OTHER INFORMATION 36

A. MODIFICATIONS 36

B. GOVERNMENT RIGHT TO REJECT OR NEGOTIATE 36

C. COMMITMENT OF PUBLIC FUNDS 36

D. PROPRIETARY APPLICATION INFORMATION 36

E. EVALUATION AND ADMINISTRATION BY NON-FEDERAL PERSONNEL 37

F. UNDERSTANDING COST SHARING REQUIREMENTS 37

G. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY DEVELOPED UNDER THIS PROGRAM 41

H. NOTICE OF RIGHT TO REQUEST PATENT WAIVER 42

I. NOTICE REGARDING ELIGIBLE/INELIGIBLE ACTIVITIES 42

Attachment A: SMR DESIGN GOALS 43

Attachment B: SAMPLE REPORTING REQUIREMENTS CHECKLIST 43

Attachment C: POINT OF CONTACT SHEET 43

10

Financial Assistance Funding Opportunity Announcement

PART I – FUNDING OPPORTUNITY DESCRIPTION

A.  SUMMARY

The Small Modular Reactor (SMR) Licensing Technical Support program, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Nuclear Energy, through this Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) seeks to facilitate the development and deployment of United States owned[1] Small Modular Reactor designs at domestic locations.

The goal of the SMR Licensing Technical Support program is to promote the accelerated commercialization of SMR technologies that offer affordable, safe, secure, and robust sources of nuclear energy that can help meet the nation’s economic, energy security and climate change objectives. Program funding will be provided at a minimum of 50% industry cost-share to SMR vendor and utility partnerships (to be established through this FOA) and will be focused on first-of-a-kind engineering (FOAKE) costs associated with design certification and licensing efforts. The total Government funding available for awards under this FOA is $452 Million (M) over five (5) years, subject to availability of funds.

This FOA requests that applicants provide their plans for attaining design certifications and licenses in order to identify the most viable candidates for accelerated commercialization. For the purposes of this FOA, SMRs are defined as reactor units with a nominal output of 300 megawatts electric (MWe) or less and are able to have large components or modules fabricated remotely and transported to the site for assembly of components and operation. The Government is particularly interested in SMR designs that incorporate passive safety features and systems providing inherent protection from natural phenomena hazards or other upset conditions that could lead to nuclear emergency situations.

DOE has been directed by Congress to consider applications utilizing any small modular reactor technology that can be expeditiously deployed. To achieve this goal, this FOA focuses on projects involving SMR designs that can be expeditiously licensed and achieve a Commercial Operation Date (COD) on a domestic site by 2022. Therefore, applications that propose SMR COD no later than 2022 will be considered as meeting the definition of “expeditiously deployed.”

The DOE is seeking applications for financial assistance from teams, consortia, or other partnership arrangements consisting of SMR vendors, power generation companies, and industry suppliers/vendors – either United States (U.S.)-owned companies or companies meeting the requirements outlined in 10 CFR 600, Subpart F – for projects that enable new SMR nuclear power plant designs to be licensed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and ordered for deployment at specified locations in the U.S. For this FOA, project applications are sought from teams which implement a plan of activities leading to the licensing of SMR designs, resulting in operation by 2022. The regulatory requirements supported under this cost-shared partnership may be completed by using either:

- 10CFRPart52 licensing process (Licenses, Certifications, and Approvals for Nuclear Power Plants); and/or

- 10CFRPart50 licensing process (Domestic Licensing of Production and Utilization Facilities).

In either case, the applications are expected to provide plans for activities that will result in completion of a standardized SMR design certification for the specific technology in accordance with 10 CFR 52, preparation and submission of license applications, and support of NRC reviews and hearings associated with the applications. The federal funding provided through this FOA will focus on FOAKE costs related to the design certification and licensing applications to help accelerate commercialization and deployment. Applicants will be requested to provide the appropriate economic and business case supporting their selected licensing strategy, including proposed schedules for submittal and NRC approval of both design certifications and license applications.

For the work supported under up to two cost-shared partnerships, DOE encourages innovative business arrangements, such as consortia among power generation companies, plant owners/operators, reactor vendors, and nuclear suppliers and fabricators with a strong and common commitment to build and operate new SMR plants in the U.S. The DOE also requires the applicants to propose business plans that support the intent to provide safe, secure, and robust sources of energy to meet expanding domestic electricity requirements at a competitive price. Consideration may also be given in the selection process for business plans that delineate value propositions, whereby the applicant develops a proposal that will in some way show a return in value to the Government and/or public by the execution of this project and follow-on efforts. Examples of value propositions may be seen in the “Other Selection Factors” section.

Federal funding provided through this FOA should be focused on costs associated with the technical and engineering aspects of the certification and licensing work regardless of the licensing strategy employed. The work funded under a 10 CFR Part 52 licensing strategy for this FOA may include the following:

·  Development of Early Site Permit (ESP) applications and associated requirements for proposed domestic locations.

·  Development of SMR designs in support of certification requirements, including FOAKE, experimental, and analytical activities.

·  Development and review of Design Certification Documentation applications.

·  Development and review of Combined Operating License (COL) application by selected utility partners teamed with vendors supplying viable and expeditiously deployed SMR designs.

If the licensing strategy follows 10 CFR Part 50, the work supported may include the following:

·  Development of environmental reviews and associated requirements for proposed domestic locations.

·  Development and submittal of construction permit application(s), including any FOAK engineering, testing, experimental, and analytical activities.

·  Development and review of preliminary and final safety analysis report development, including required engineering and analysis.

·  Development and review of operating license application(s) for selected utility partners teamed with vendors supplying viable SMR designs that can be expeditiously deployed.

Work supported under the FOA for either licensing strategy may include support for NRC review processes. Again, if 10 CFR Part 50 is used, the work scope must still include efforts to complete a design certification per 10 CFR 52 requirements.

Fifty percent (50%) minimum industry cost share on an annual basis, consisting of monetary or in-kind contributions from SMR vendors, power generation companies, and other substantial participants, is required over the life of the cooperative agreements (CAs) established for all projects. Increased industry cost-share (i.e., proposed contributions greater than 50%) is a program selection factor in evaluating program proposals. The terms and conditions of the cost share requirements will be established through these CAs.

Funding awarded under this FOA will be subject to the availability of funds on an annual basis. CAs will be awarded in accordance with Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations, Chapter II Subchapter H, Part 600 (10 CFR Part 600).

B.  BACKGROUND

The DOE SMR Licensing Technical Support program seeks to provide technically focused cost-shared financial assistance to industry to help accelerate the development and commercialization of these designs with a goal of meeting a COD by 2022. The program’s vision is to provide a new, innovative nuclear power option which has the potential to offer more flexibility in financing, siting, sizing, and end-use applications than the larger LWR designs. These advantages may include:

·  Providing reactor designs which offer passive safety capability that require little or no operator interaction to place in a safe configuration.

·  Eliminating or significantly reducing the probability of design basis accidents such as loss of coolant or loss of off-site power events.

·  Reducing an owner’s initial capital outlay or investment due to the anticipated lower capital cost for SMRs.

·  Reducing financial risks to potential owners that operate in regulated energy markets.

·  Improving cost, schedule and quality of modular components through replication in a factory setting.

·  Reducing construction schedule duration through the use of modular components produced in a factory and transported to the site for assembly.

·  Using additional reactor units to incrementally increase output as demand for power increases.

·  Providing power for applications where large plants are not needed or where infrastructure to support a large unit is lacking, such as smaller electrical markets, isolated areas, smaller grids, or restricted water or acreage sites.

·  Providing a carbon-free option for repowering aging fossil power plants or process heat for industrial applications.

·  Providing potential nonproliferation benefits to the U.S. and the wider international community.

·  Providing designs which can operate with longer operating cycles between refueling.

There is an emerging domestic and international demand for SMRs, and U.S. industry is well positioned to compete for these growing markets. In the U.S., it is the responsibility of private industry to develop and market commercial nuclear power plants. The SMR Licensing Technical Support program seeks to support accelerated development and deployment of these new SMR designs, which, if deployed, could provide advantages in terms of safety, financing, energy security and non-proliferation. The program will help encourage new competition in the marketplace. The designs supported through this FOA will be appropriately sized to meet the economic and infrastructure limitations faced by many domestic utilities wishing to use nuclear power as a solution to their energy, environmental or economic requirements. Through this FOA, the program will support the design development and certification of selected SMR designs (nominally 300 MWe or less per unit) and the associated licensing requirements for the deployment of these reactors at domestic sites. The program is intended to help accelerate the commercialization of a nascent technology that has the potential to provide safe, secure, and robust sources of energy that could help to meet expanding domestic electricity requirements at an affordable price.

While the deployment of these SMR plants can provide an attractive energy solution for many domestic utilities, the program will also encourage U.S. industry to compete in the global marketplace because DOE anticipates that NRC design certification will result in a competitive advantage over designs being developed in other countries. Smaller reactors may be particularly suitable for countries with electricity grid constraints for many of the reasons stated above, focusing primarily on safety, cost, and matching electric output to grid capacity while supporting non-proliferation goals of the U.S. Government and international community. DOE expects that the successful applicant team(s) will have a subsequent commitment, capability, and plan to gauge world interest in their SMR design, market the certified design, and complete the FOAK engineering required to deploy the design. For this reason, this FOA is focused on assuring that successful applicants will complete standard design certifications for the selected SMR design regardless of the initial licensing strategy employed.

As a part of their overall business strategy, potential applicants should consider the establishment of design-centered working groups (DCWGs) based around their chosen technologies. The existence of DCWGs will provide additional confidence in the further commercialization of SMR designs.

C.  STATEMENT OF OBJECTIVES

The SMR Licensing Technical Support program will support the development and deployment of U.S.-based SMR designs (nominally 300 MWe or less per unit). Proposals eligible under this program must have demonstrable ability to achieve NRC design certification and licensing to support SMR plant deployment by 2022. Applications are invited for projects that enable new SMR nuclear power plants to be ordered and licensed for deployment at specified domestic locations. The applicant must be capable of conducting the necessary engineering, analysis, and licensing activities to develop, license, and certify the specified SMR designs in accordance with NRC regulations.

In their response to this FOA, applicants shall specify their plans, including the technical objectives and milestones for the design, engineering, testing, analysis, and licensing activities, required to:

1.  Perform the necessary engineering, analysis, and validation for the SMR design, to support either the Part 52 design certification application (DCA) or the Part 50 construction permit application.

2.  Support the NRC staff review of the SMR construction permit approval and/or the DCA for Final Design Approval.

3.  Prepare and submit siting permit applications, as appropriate, for NRC review and approval.