Wednesday, 26 March 2025
Installed in February, the Energy Exploration (E2) Centre at the Jonsson Engineering Center – a hub of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s School of Engineering on its Troy campus – offers users a hands-on opportunity to apply nuclear science and engineering principles through simulated, real-world nuclear power plant operation scenarios. The E2 Centre employs state-of-the-art computer modeling to simulate a NuScale VOYGR-12, 924 MWe, small modular reactor (SMR) plant powered by 12 NuScale Power Modules.
The E2 Centre at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) was co-funded by a grant from the US Department of Energy’s Nuclear Energy University Programs.
“We are proud to join with the faculty and students at RPI to open this NuScale E2 Centre aimed at showcasing the importance of nuclear energy,” said NuScale President and CEO John Hopkins. “We hope that this learning facility will foster collaborative problem-solving and creative solutions that inspire future energy pioneers and equip a nuclear-ready workforce.”
“Having a high-quality simulator on campus will provide our students with exciting learning opportunities in the design, operation, and control of modern, small modular reactors,” said Shekhar Garde, dean of the RPI School of Engineering. “This capability adds to the growing strength of RPI’s School of Engineering in augmented, virtual, and digital technologies for education, where students can learn about everything from atoms to galaxies, and work on designing new drugs, airplanes, and, now, nuclear reactors.”
“These new learning opportunities will provide students with a comprehensive education, bridging theory with practice and preparing them to understand, implement, and comply with reactor operation safety regulations in line with nuclear industry standards,” added Shanbin Shi, assistant professor of mechanical, aerospace, and nuclear engineering.
Since November 2020, NuScale has unveiled eight E2 Centres with university partners, including RPI; Oregon State University; Texas A&M University; Idaho State University; University Politechnica in Bucharest, Romania; Seoul National University in South Korea; the Ohio State University; and Ghana Atomic Energy Commission in Accra, Ghana.
The NuScale Power Module on which the VOYGR nuclear power plants are based is a pressurised water reactor with all the components for steam generation and heat exchange incorporated into a single 77 MWe unit. The company offers a 12-module VOYGR-12 power plant is capable of generating 924 MWe as well as the four-module VOYGR-4 (308 MWe) and six-module VOYGR-6 (462 MWe) plants and other configurations based on customer needs.
