U.S. DOE funds and approves SMR projects, boosting nuclear supply chain

The U.S. Department of Energy announced more than $94 million in federal funding for eight companies to accelerate the deployment of advanced light‑water small modular reactors (SMRs). The awards target licensing, site preparation and manufacturing gaps, with projects spanning New York (Constellation SMR Development), Nebraska (Nebraska Public Power District), Indiana (BWXT Nuclear Energy), Washington state (Framatome), North Carolina (Global Nuclear Fuel Americas), Pennsylvania (American Forgemasters), Illinois (Scot Forge) and Tennessee (Container Technologies Industries). The funding is part of the DOE’s Generation III+ SMR Pathway to Deployment Program, aiming to expand domestic nuclear generation capacity into the 2030s.

In a related development, X‑energy received federal environmental approval for its Texas SMR project. The company benefited from a 50/50 cost‑share agreement with the DOE covering up to $2.4 billion, and secured offtake agreements with Dow and financing from Amazon to support construction of up to 5 GW of reactors. X‑energy’s Xe‑100 design uses helium coolant and TRISO fuel, which it argues provides inherent safety. The firm also plans a multi‑phase expansion at a Washington state site operated by Energy Northwest, leveraging its regulatory pre‑application work with the NRC.

Together, the funding and approvals illustrate a coordinated push by the U.S. government and private sector to strengthen the nuclear supply chain and promote next‑generation SMR technology.