NuScale Achieved a Major Engineering Breakthrough to Make SMR Safer!
NuScale is the only small modular reactor (SMR) developer to receive a Standard Design Approval from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
On Sept. 1, NuScale achieved a major engineering breakthrough. In collaboration with MilleniTEK, it successfully fabricated specialized boron-oxide pellets, a critical component of NuScale's cutting-edge passive emergency cooling system.
# NuScale recently made an engineering breakthrough for its SMRs
In traditional nuclear reactors, reactivity control during nonstandard events often relies on active mechanical insertion of control rods or on powered chemical injection pumps. NuScale's 77 MWe Small Modular Reactor (SMR) design relies on passive safety mechanisms.
NuScale's Emergency Core Cooling System (ECCS) uses pellets that automatically dissolve in the reactor coolant to control core reactivity at safe levels without operator intervention. This is why the boron-oxide breakthrough matters. By fabricating these pellets with MilleniTEK, the pellets move beyond an idea on paper and one step closer to mass production and commercial deployment.
Nuclear projects have a history of delays and cost overruns, in some cases because teams try to work out engineering and component challenges on-site. NuScale's own Carbon Free Power Project with Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems ended in 2023 due to escalating costs. NuScale lost tens of millions in the process.
Producing these boron-oxide pellets shows that these crucial safety components can be manufactured before construction begins, shortening the supply process up front rather than during construction. NuScale has secured master service agreements [with over 60 specialized suppliers](https://www.fool.com/earnings/call-transcripts/2026/08/12/nuscale-power-smr-q2-2026-earnings-call-transcript/?utm_source=yahoo-host-full&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=article&referring_guid=ff755cd7-cd40-4058-be54-aef4562e04bf), which should help prevent site-level bottlenecks.
