NuScale has brought on another legacy nuclear power firm to help it design and build its small modular nuclear reactor. Late last month, the Oregon-based company announced a memorandum of understanding with Sargent & Lundy to help it develop its reactor design and to provide additional architect engineer support. Sargent & Lundy will also become an investor in NuScale, majority owned by Fluor.

“We are inspired by the simplicity and exceptional safety inherent in NuScale’s design and expect this technology to have a major impact on the future of the electric power industry,” said Thomas R. White, chairman, president and CEO of Sargent & Lundy, in a statement.

Late last year, NuScale announced an alliance with BWX Technologies to start the engineering work to manufacture the reactor. That announcement came after an 18-month selection process that garnered interest from 83 companies.

“They’ve got tremendous experience,” says Jose Reyes of BWXT. Reyes is chief technology officer and co-founder of NuScale.

NuScale has made several announcements over the past year, including that Korea’s Doosan Heavy Industries and Construction Co. will invest in the company and build a portion of the assemblies for the plant.

NuScale company’s first customer, Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems, is planning a 12-module SMR plant at the Idaho National Laboratories. Each module is capable of generating 60 MW. Under an agreement with the Energy Dept., it will support one of the modules at the lab, which will in turn be used to power the lab and for research.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is expected to complete the design certification of the NuScale prototype by December, and complete the safety evaluation by September 2020.

Reyes says he expects the first nuclear grade concrete pour will occur in 2023 and the first module will be operating in 2026, with early site development beginning in 2021.