The U.S. Department of Energy will give Holtec Government Services up to $400 million to develop two small modular reactors at Palisades Nuclear Plant in southwest Michigan as part of an effort to rapidly expand the U.S. electricity grid using nuclear energy.

In a Wednesday announcement, the department said it will give Holtec Government Services LLC and Tennessee Valley Authority up to $400 million each in federal cost-shared funding to build the reactors.

Small modular reactors are essentially small-scale nuclear plants that are easier to build and made with modular parts that can be mass-assembled and easily transported, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency.

The technology is still in development. Last year, the DOE said it was supporting seven advanced reactor designs

See Full Page