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NuScale CTO and Co-Founder Wins Nuclear Energy Advocate Award From Partnership for Science & Technology

FLR | February 20, 2014

NuScale Power, LLC announced today that Dr. Jose Reyes, NuScale’s Chief Technology Officer, co-founder and designer of its passively-cooled small nuclear reactor, was presented the 2013 Nuclear Energy Advocate Award during last night’s sixth annual Partnership for Science & Technology (PST) Energy Advocate Awards banquet in Idaho Falls.

(L-R) NuScale Chief Operating Officer Chris Colbert, Western Governor Association Policy Advisor Chris Scolari, Idaho Falls Power General Manager Jackie Flowers, NuScale Chief Technology Officer Dr. Jose Reyes, and NuScale Chief Commercial Officer Mike McGough at the Partnership for Science and Technology 2013 Energy Advocate Awards in Idaho Falls on Wednesday, February 19, 2014, celebrate energy advocate awards won by Dr. Jose Reyes and the Western Governors Association. (Photo: Business Wire)

The PST Energy Advocate Awards are presented to individuals or organizations that were central to a noteworthy achievement in energy, nuclear energy or an environmental field that is of interest to PST members.

Dr. Reyes is an internationally recognized expert on passive safety system design, testing and operations for nuclear power plants. He serves as a United Nations International Atomic Energy Agency technical expert on passive safety systems. Dr. Reyes successfully established a 17-nation coordinated research program on passive safety systems for the IAEA. He also developed and directed a course on natural circulation and passive safety systems at the International Center for Theoretical Physics in Trieste, Italy.

In accepting the award, Dr. Reyes described the importance of nuclear energy to worldwide challenges of managing growth and economic development with clean, safe and reliable electricity, which provided the catalyst for his efforts to develop a new type of nuclear energy, paving the way for the now-popular concept of Small Modular Reactors. Dr. Reyes said “I am grateful to the Idaho Falls community and to the Partners in Science and Technology for this award and for the important role they have played in the development of our technology. I am also grateful to the State of Idaho for their continued leadership in providing fertile grounds for commercialization of the NuScale Power technology right here in Idaho Falls. I am proud to accept this award on behalf of the hundreds of men and women at NuScale who have committed their energies to bring this world-changing technology to a reality in the next decade.”

The Western Governors Association (WGA) received the Regional Energy Advocate Award for exhibiting leadership in advancing nuclear energy as a resource and supporting development of new nuclear technology, specifically small modular reactors. NuScale announced the Western Initiative for Nuclear (Project WIN) on July 1st, 2013, at the WGA Annual meeting hosted by Utah Governor Gary Herbert in Park City. Project WIN will study the demonstration and deployment of a multi-module small modular reactor with the primary region of interest in Idaho, including the Idaho National Laboratory.

In accepting the award on behalf of WGA Executive Director Jim Ogsbury, WGA Policy Advisor Chris Scolari said "Western states are America’s "energy breadbasket" and play a key role in keeping the country’s economic engine humming. Over the years Western Governors have worked collaboratively, through WGA, to forge policies that guide energy development and use, which in turn promote economic growth and environmental protection. WGA’s work to promote use of small modular nuclear reactors in the West is a perfect example of that collaboration.”

In December 2013, NuScale Power was selected as the winner of the second round of the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) competitively-bid, cost-sharing program to develop nuclear Small Modular Reactor (SMR) technology. As part of the award, NuScale will receive funding that will support the accelerated development of its NuScale Power Module^™ SMR technology. NuScale and DOE are currently negotiating a cooperative agreement that formalizes the public-private relationship and establishes milestones for the five-year funding program.

About NuScale Power, LLC
NuScale Power, LLC is developing a new kind of nuclear plant; a safer, smaller, scalable version of pressurized water reactor technology, designed with natural safety features. Fluor Corporation (NYSE: FLR), a global engineering, procurement and construction company with a 60-year history in commercial nuclear power, is the majority investor in NuScale. As the sole winner of the second round of the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) competitively-bid, cost-sharing program to develop nuclear small modular reactor (SMR) technology, NuScale's design offers the benefits of carbon-free nuclear power but takes away the issues presented by the cost of installing large capacity. A nuclear power plant using NuScale's technology is comprised of individual nuclear power modules; each produces 45 megawatts of electricity with its own combined containment vessel and reactor system, and its own packaged turbine-generator set. A power plant can include as many as 12 NuScale integral PWR modules to produce as much as 540 megawatts. The reactors are cooled by the natural circulation of water and can be shut down safely with no operator action, no AC or DC power, and no external water. NuScale power plants are scalable - additional modules are added as customer demand for electricity increases. NuScale's technology also is ideally suited to supply energy for district heating, desalination and other applications. For more information visit: www.nuscalepower.com.