Enough clean electricity
to power a steel mill
While renewables such as wind and solar have been crucial supplements to fill the energy gap as more fossil fuel plants in the U.S enter retirement, renewables alone lack the scale and reliability required for energy-intensive industrial applications such as steelmaking. As a result, they must be paired with a reliable baseload power source.1
Nuclear is currently one of the strongest contenders for meeting energy needs on this massive scale with clean and carbon-free power. Nucor has partnered with NuScale, a leader in new nuclear technology, to explore developing more powerful, reliable, and affordable nuclear power options.
NuScale is developing Small Modular Reactors (SMR), an advanced nuclear technology that can produce carbon-free electric power on a smaller scale and at a lower cost than traditional nuclear. NuScale’s groundbreaking VOYGR™ plants can generate the same amount of power in just 0.05 square miles that wind turbines would require 94 square miles for, creating new opportunities for consistent on-site power. Each plant can be scaled to provide up to 924 MWe of output or enough electricity to power 700,000 homes.2
As the first design of its kind to receive Nuclear Regulatory Commission approval, the VOYGR™ plants have the potential to transform power generation and consumption at an industrial scale.
In April 2022, Nucor announced a $15 million strategic investment in NuScale to support the commercialization of NuScale’s innovative technology. In addition, the two companies will explore colocating NuScale's VOYGR™ plants to provide clean, reliable baseload electricity to Nucor's scrap-based EAF steel mills. This benefit could be extended to surrounding businesses and communities to build energy independence via a flexible, affordable electricity source.
The companies will also explore an expanded manufacturing partnership through which Nucor, the largest steel producer and recycler of any type of material in North America, would supply Econiq™, its net-zero steel products, for NuScale projects. Econiq is made using 100% renewable electricity (eliminating Scope 2 emissions), with Scope 1 emissions offset and can be applied to any steel product within the Nucor family.
To generate the same amount of electricity as one 12-module SMR, you would need almost 3.5x the land area with a solar farm or almost 19x the land area with a wind farm.
