April 26, 2025

Radiant Selected by DOE to receive HALEU Fuel for Reactor Test ()

Radiant, a Nucleation portfolio company working to mass produce portable nuclear microreactors, was selected by the Department of Energy to receive an allocation of HALEU fuel for its first test of Kaleidos, the group’s reactor design.

April 25, 2025

POWER SURGE: Solving for Unprecedented Energy Demand

Announcing a Doon Insights Workshop

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Registration link for the Power Surge Conference

Doon Insights, hosted by Howard Chao, is convening dozens of experts to address trends and discuss issues impacting demand for and supply of energy in the coming years and decades. This one-day conference is being held on April 30th, 2025 in Santa Cruz, at the Boardwalk's Cocoanut Grove Resort.  This is Doon Insights first energy-focused workshop, so the event will bring investors up to speed on the topic of energy and how we will meet that demand. It is not too late to register to attend. The conference is titled "POWER SURGE: Solving for Unprecedented Energy Demand."

Ray Rothrock, renowned venture capitalist and Nucleation Capital advisor, will give a keynote talk about the solutions to the demand surge in conversation with Howard Chao. Valerie Gardner, Nucleation Capital's managing partner, is moderating an afternoon panel on Long Term Supply Side Solutions from Nuclear Fission: Specifically Gen IV and Small Modular Reactors. Following that, Matt Trevithick of Leitmotif Ventures, will moderate a panel on Fusion.  For the complete event overview and agenda, see thePOWER SURGE website.

Official Event Description

Doon Insights is pleased to announce our Power Surge Workshop: Solving for Unprecedented Energy Demand!

Our Power Surge Workshop will convene an exclusive gathering of industry leaders, investors, technologists, and innovators to explore one of the most pressing challenges of our time: meeting the surging demand for energy in a scalable and sustainable way.

As data centers, the electrification of everything, crypto mining, and other emerging energy-intensive applications create an unprecedented spike in demand, the energy sector is facing a pivotal moment. This perfect storm of demand must be addressed with both more conventional power generation, better power management and revolutionary new technologies.

Why Attend?

This Workshop is a must-attend event for energy innovators, investors, technologists, energy, manufacturing, mobility and other energy industry executives. Engage in in-depth discussions, network with industry leaders, and discover actionable insights into our energy future. And enjoy the beach and mountains of Santa Cruz!

Event Details:

Date:April 30, 2025 - 8 am

Location:The Boardwalk's Classic Cocoanut Grove Ballroom, 400 Beach Street, Santa Cruz, CA (Workshop); Bonny Doon, CA (Reception and Dinner)

Join us to explore the technologies, strategies, and collaborations that will define the next generation of energy systems. Secure your spot today!

Very much looking forward to seeing everyone in Santa Cruz!

November 1, 2024

Assessing the Election’s Impacts on Nuclear

By Valerie Gardner, Nucleation Capital Managing Partner

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Presidential elections are always important and this year's election is widely considered particularly critical and unusual.  There are vast differences of opinion on matters of great national importance—from voting rights and health policies to international relations and national security policies. Less well litigated is where these candidates stand on matters of energy security, the energy transition and future deployments of both traditional and advanced nuclear power. How will the differences in character, knowledge and respect for facts, science and experts play out on U.S. policies towards nuclear power?  Based upon various sources, it appears that the election will have a significant impact. For those still making up their minds, this summary assessment may help clarify how numerous pundits view these differences.

Summary

Nuclear energy has enjoyed enduring bipartisan support across both Democratic and Republican administrations for years now. The Congress has passed, with overwhelming bipartisan majorities, bills aimed at modernizing and accelerating commercialization of new nuclear.

Nevertheless, in 2024, the two presidential candidates bring potentially unconventional approaches that may differ from the standard positions of their respective parties. Republicans have long valued America's nuclear capacity and have seen the need for the US to maintain leadership to boost both national security and to expand our ability to export our technologies. They recognize that the U.S. needs to counter the geopolitical influence of adversaries like Russia and China which are offering to help developing nations with nuclear power as a means of increasing their influence within those countries.

Democrats have also, if more recently, come around to support nuclear. Both the Obama White House and the Biden Administration have provided broad support for the industry and particularly for the acceleration of next-generation nuclear technologies and American leadership in the energy transition. Front and center of their support is the recognition that nuclear power is a critical, differentiated component of a reliable, 24/7 low-carbon energy grid. They support its expansion primarily as a mechanism to meet growing energy needs and fortify grid reliability while reducing carbon emissions and addressing climate change, in tandem with renewables.

The question then of which candidate is more likely to support the continued acceleration of nuclear power is thus wrapped up with policies relating to energy security, fossil fuels, geopolitical competition with Russia and China, and support for addressing climate change. The Inflation Reduction Act passed in 2022 and signed by President Biden marked the Congress' single largest investment in the economy, energy security and climate change and is widely seen as the most important piece of climate legislation ever passed. It simultaneously rebuilds the U.S. industrial capabilities while incentivizing the growth of clean energy technologies including domestic nuclear power. It is already making an enormous and beneficial impact on the U.S. nuclear indsutry.

Kamala Harris, while possibly more progressive than Biden, has shown her support for Biden's approach to incentivizing the clean energy transition through the IRA, Biden's signature piece of climate legislation, which has received staunch support from industry. She is unlikely to make many if any changes to the IRA's clean energy technology-neutral Investment Tax Credits and Production Tax Credits or reduce the billions in loan guarantees available through the Loan Program Office, which have already stimulated significant investment in protecting and restarting existing reactors.

Because of Biden’s Infrastructure Investment & Jobs Act’s Civil Nuclear Credit program, California is proceeding with the relicensing of Diablo Canyon, Holtec has chosen to restart, rather than decommission, Michigan’s Palisades nuclear power plant, Constellation has inked a deal with Microsoft to restart Three Mile Island Unit 2, and NextEra Energy is actively considering the restart of Duane Arnold. Meanwhile, Google has signed a deal to buy power from advanced nuclear reactors being designed by Kairos Power and Amazon has signed a similar deal with X-energy, marking the first corporate purchases of next-generation nuclear, thanks to highly motivating tax and financing incentives available through the IRA and LPO.

Harris is clearly committed to addressing climate change. There is no evidence that she rejects the clean energy tech-agnostic approach developed during her term as Vice President, which levels the playing field for nuclear energy as a clean energy source. Harris recognizes the geopolitical importance of America's ability to compete with Russia to produce our own nuclear fuel supply and to provide nuclear technologies to developing nations seeking to build their clean energy capacity but wanting to remain free of Russian or Chinese influence.

In contrast, Donald Trump has repeatedly called climate change a "hoax," and/or a good thing and cares little about reducing U.S. or global emissions. He previously walked away from the Paris accord and would likely try to repeal, roll back or dilute the IRA. He's publicly allied himself with the fossil fuel industry and—in exchange for donations—has promised to roll back EPA regulations and help them "drill, drill, drill."

There is almost no doubt that Trump would step the U.S. away from its leadership role on climate and this time, that may mean reversing the U.S.'s pledge to triple the amount of nuclear power. This would seriously undermine both the U.S. nuclear industry's momentum to expand to meet growing demand as well as international progress. Given Trump’s overt courting of Putin, he may be disinclined to rebuild the U.S.'s nuclear fuel production capacity or seek to accelerate or support American efforts to build nuclear projects internationally in competition with Russia.

None of this would be good for nuclear power. Any potential efforts to rollback the IRA would slow restoration, development and deployment of reactors. Boosting the fossil fuel industry, whether through supporting expanded access to federal land or price manipulation to improve profitability would have severe impacts on the energy transition. Trump's recent acknowledgement that he didn't believe nuclear was safe also belies the stated "commitment" to nuclear energy expressed by his surrogates and gives considerable fodder to those who persist in opposing nuclear. His shoot-from-the-hip, truth-be-damned leadership style and embrace of conspiracy theorists, contrasts starkly with Harris' stated willingness to consult with scientific experts and even give those who disagree with her a seat at the table.

In sumary, Trump's likely propensity to undermine the IRA, oppose climate action and backtrack on US pledges to triple nuclear, his support for expanding fossil fuel production and his continued disdain for science and technical experts, poses extreme risks to the momentum generated within the nuclear sector over the last few years. Trump's ignorance of nuclear energy's exceptional safety performance make him unlikely to provide Oval Office leadership either to the industry or the NRC in support of the bipartisan ADVANCE Act, signed into law by Biden.

In contrast, a Harris Administration would likely remain on the current climate glideslope for leadership, technology-neutral funding and the U.S.'s nuclear tripling momentum as stimulated by the Biden Administration. It may be that a Harris Administration does not prioritize nuclear's growth or add billions in new accelerants as Biden has done, but she will not try to trash it. Having been briefed by senior energy advisors over the last four years about the importance of nuclear, she is well-informed and understands the importance of Biden's initiatives for addressing climate.

Based on this analysis, those who support an expansion of nuclear power and enduring progress towards transitioning away from fossil fuels should thus prefer to see Harris elected, rather than Trump, and the existing policies continued.

Sources

You can find more detailed information about the basis for this Summary Assessment from these sources.

  1. Forbes, Trump Plans To Rescind Funds For IRA Law’s Climate Provisions, But May Keep Drug Price Measures, by Joshua P. Cohen, Sept. 9, 2024.
  2. Bloomberg, US Economy Will Suffer If IRA Repealed, Solar Maker CEO Says, by Mark Chediak, Oct. 22, 2024.
  3. Politico E&E News, Trump cites cost and risks of building more nuclear plants, by Nico Portuondo, Francisco "A.J." Camacho, Oct. 29, 2024.
  4.  Huffington Post, Donald Trump Takes A Skeptical View Of Nuclear Energy On Joe Rogan’s Podcast, by Alexander Kaufman, Oct. 27, 2024
  5. Bloomberg, Trump 2.0 Climate Tipping Points: A guide to what a second Trump White House can—and can't—do to the American effort to slow global warming, by Jennifer A. Dlouhy, Sept. 30, 2024.
  6. Joint Economic Committee, How Project 2025's Health, Education, and Climate Policies Hurt Americans, August 2024.
  7. FactCheck.org, Trump Clings to Inaccurate Climate Change Talking Points, Jessica McDonald, Sept. 9, 2024.
  8. New York Times, Trump Will Withdraw U.S. From Paris Climate Agreement, Michael D. Shear, June 1, 2017
  9. Cipher: Here's how cleantech stacks up in three swing states: Taking stock of Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, Sept. 3, 2024.
  10. Bloomberg Green, Climate Politics: Double-Punch Storms Thrust Climate Into the US Presidential Race, by Zahra Hirji, Oct. 11, 2024.
  11. New York Times, Biden’s Climate Plans Are Stunted After Dejected Experts Fled Trump, by Coral DavenportLisa Friedman and Christopher Flavelle, published Aug. 1, 2021, updated Sept. 20, 2021
  12. Bloomberg, The Donald Trump Interview Transcript (with quote "Green New Scam"), July 16, 2024.
  13. Google: New nuclear clean energy agreement with Kairos Power, by Michael Terrell, Oct. 15, 2024, and Google's The Corporate Role in Accelerating Advanced Clean Electricity Technologies, Sept. 2023.
  14. The New Republic, Trump Pushes Deranged Idea that Climate Change is Good for Real Estate, by Robert McCoy, Sept. 18, 2024.
  15. Grid Brief: What Was Said About Energy During the VP Debate, JD Vance and Tim Walz Discuss Energy and Climate During VP Debate, by Jeff Luse, Oct. 2, 2024.
  16. CNN: Fact check: Sea levels are already rising faster per year than Trump claims they might rise over "next 497 years', by Daniel Dale, June 29, 2024.
  17. CNN: Fact check: Tramp's latest false climate figure is off by more than 1,000 times, by Daniel Dale, April 2023.
  18. Yale Program on Climate Change Communication, YPCCC's Resources on Climate in the 2024 U.S. General Election, by Anthony Leiserowitz, Edward Maibach, Jennifer Carman, Jennifer Marlon, John Kotcher, Seth Rosenthal and Joshua Low, Oct. 8, 2024.
  19. SIGNED: Bipartisan ADVANCE Act to Boost Nuclear Energy Now Law, Senate Committee on Environment & Public Works, July 9, 2024.
  20. Rodgers, Pallone, Carper, Capito Celebrate Signing of Bipartisan Nuclear Energy Bill, the ADVANCE Act, July 9, 2024.
  21. The White House, Bill Signed S. 870, July 9, 2024.
  22. Power Magazine, The ADVANCE Act—Legislation Crucial for a U.S. Nuclear Renaissance—Clears Congress. Here's a Detailed Breakdown by Sonal Patel, June 20, 2024
  23. Sidley Austin LLP, Congress Passes ADVANCE Act to Facilitate U.S. Development of Advanced Nuclear Reactors, June 26, 2024.

October 15, 2024

Google makes world’s first SMR corporate purchase deal


Google's agreement to purchase energy from advanced nuclear reactors to be built by Kairos Power was, in almost every way, earth-shattering.  This deal puts advanced nuclear on the energy "leaderboard" for the first time and sends an exceptionally powerful message out into the world—that the tech hyperscalers, a group of extremely sophisticated companies committed to decarbonization—are ready to commit large sums to obtain clean and reliable power from advanced nuclear energy providers. This will inform a whole host of other actors and force them to re-assess their energy options.

To better understand Google's reasoning for this agreement, we turn to the blog post written by Michael Terrell, Googles' Senior Director for Energy and Climate. He confirms right away, that Google's decision to sign the "world's first corporate agreement to purchase nuclear energy from multiple small modular reactors" is intended to "accelerate the clean energy transition across the U.S."

Google is building upon a history of pioneering corporate efforts to accelerate clean energy solutions, which started with agreements to purchase renewable electricity over a decade ago. Those purchase agreements have enabled Google to make claims of powering their operations with "renewable" energy but the reality is that for the last decade, Google's power was pulled from the grid like everyone else's and they could not access carbon-free power on a 24/7 basis. This disturbed them, because they knew that their claims were premised on fancy accounting, not reality, and due to the fungibility of electrons, their actual energy streams remained as dirty as eveyone else's.

Google now takes its first true step into truly managing its carbon emissions with this agreement to support Kairos Power's introduction of its advanced nuclear power system.  This is a long-term agreement that enables Kairos to target building multiple initial units by 2030, followed by additional units by 2035.  The agreement will enable the construction of up to 500 MW of 24/7 carbon-free power to a number of communities, which indicates that Google is probably planning to site these new reactors in more than one location, possibly co-located with newly-built data centers being planned to meet growing power demands from AI.

Terrell believes that this agreement, to put Google's purchasing heft in accelerating deployments of the next generation of advanced clean technologies, is important for two reasons:

  1. The grid needs new electricity sources to support AI technologies that are powering major scientific advances, improving services for businesses and customers, and driving national competitiveness and economic growth. This agreement helps accelerate a new technology to meet energy needs cleanly and reliably, and unlock the full potential of AI for everyone.
  2. Nuclear solutions offer a clean, round-the-clock power source that can help us reliably meet electricity demands with carbon-free energy every hour of every day. Advancing these power sources in close partnership with supportive local communities will rapidly drive the decarbonization of electricity grids around the world.

In other words, there is growing 24/7 energy demand and growing urgency to eliminate emissions and renewables are not up to the job. Terrell doesn't say that directly but it seems fairly clear that they recognize that they cannot run a rapidly growing 24/7 data center business with intermittent energy sources, even with fancy accounting.

While we don't get a lot of the financial details of this new agreement, whether they will be investing in Kairos or just helping to finance Kairos' journey through their first of a kind (F.O.A.K) build and out into their "nth of a kind" (N.O.A.K) build, Google's alignment of it efforts to develop and commercialize advanced clean electricity technologies behind Kairos is a formidable combination that promises to help Kairos overcome the remaining barriers for commercialization of its technology.

(From the DOE's Advanced Nuclear LiftOff Report.)

Google's deal with Kairos provides what many experts and the DOE see as a necessary ingredient to break the chicken and egg conundrum:  an orderbook of reactors. This speeds up Kairos' ability to produce its novel reactors in the quantity necessary to lower costs and bring Kairos Power’s technology to market more quickly. Without out, FOAK pricing can be prohibitive to getting orders. Google, with virtually no other options, has bravely stepped to help scale what is likely to be the first of many advanced nuclear technologies coming to market.

This announcement further inflects the advanced nuclear sector and confirms what we have known all along: both traditional and next-generation nuclear technologies are necessary for us to reach 100% clean power and we'll need a very large and very diverse quantity of new reactors being produced and deployed at scale to fully meet all types of growing energy needs and to shift all demand from fossil fuels to clean energy sources.

Resources
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Goggle Blog: New nuclear clean energy agreement with Kairos Power, by Michael Terrell, Oct. 14, 2024

Google Sustainability Report: The Corporate Role in Accelerating Advanced Clean Electricity Technologies, Sept. 2023.

Department of Energy:  Pathways to Commercial Liftoff: Advanced Nuclear Commercial LiftOff

October 8, 2024

BLUE ENERGY: Accelerating deployments of SMRs

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Nucleation announces its investment in Blue Energy's Series A with Fund I

Blue Energy  is working to deploy small modular reactors (SMR) in a unique and cost-effective offshore formation that leverages shipyard manufacturing and existing, mature offshore wind technology to decrease siting difficulty, lower construction costs and increase safety by utilizing the vast cooling power of the ocean. Read Blue Energy's press release about their financing.

Blue Energy recognizes that speed to deployment really matters. By utilizing smaller, simpler and manufacturable SMR technology optimized for this purpose, combined with shipyard production, Blue Energy will have a competitive advantage being able to deploy off-shore at existing nuclear power facilities, where approvals to build already exist. This team has figured out a brilliant “ocean-cooled” deployment strategy that enables it to be technology agnostic and build the emerging SMR market with a more affordable and efficient implementation process, in partnership with existing utilities. Energy Secr. Jennifer Granholm believes nuclear needs to "at least triple,” and the U.S. together with some 25 other nuclear nations have also pledged to triple their nuclear generation as well. More recent estimates from the DOE put the amount of new power needed in the U.S. at 200 GW. Blue Energy’s design is poised to help accelerate this growth and are focused on deploying design that are low-cost, manufacturable and NRC-approved. Recently,  the DOE announced plans to allocate some $900 million towards the deployment of SMRs. We believe that Blue Energy could be an early mover working to leverage this DOE funding and have significant advantage in having an implrementation plan ready to go. According to yet another DOE study, of the 65 nuclear power plant sites in 31 states, there is the potential to install as much as 60 to 95 GW of new capacity at these existing and/or recently retured nuclear power plant sites.  For existing sites which are situated on the coast, Blue Energy's approach can give these sites the potential ability to increase that number by adding new, off-shore sitings. Additionally, we are extraordinarily delighted to share that both the U.S. House of Representative and the Senate reconciled versions of the Accelerating Deployment of Versatile, Advanced Nuclear for Clean Energy (ADVANCE) Act have passed, making sweeping changes to the approval process for new technology in the nuclear energy sector. The ADVANCE Act, more than anything else, seeks to accelerate the deployment of nuclear power, and passed with significant bipartisan majorities in both chambers and is now on President Biden's desk, awaiting his signature. HuffPo calls this the "The Biggest Clean-Energy Bill" since the passage of the IRA, and is designed to turn the NRC into a 21st century regulator. We have written about both House and Senate versions previously, and we will post more information about the final resulting legislation, which Biden is almost certain to sign, on our website shortly.

August 23, 2024

Help us expand our deal syndications

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Nucleation Capital is growing!

Seeking help increasing our syndicate deal flow

The level of activity and new venture formation in the areas of advanced nuclear and deep decarbonization innovation is growing rapidly.  Nucleation Capital is seeking to expand our reach and connect with as many of these new ventures as we can. We are thus pleased to invite you to work with us to help us expand our syndicate deal flow and earn a share of our upside syndicate compensation.  Here's how it works.

You find and connect with a young, growing venture that fits our thesis. If this venture is actively looking to raise capital and has a fundraising pitch deck, you introduce them to us and we will review their deck. If we agree that it is a promising prospect, you can offer to help them raise capital through our pronuclear investor network and syndicate. If they like that idea and agree to give us an allocation of equity, you will then produce a deal memo and we will float a syndicate to help them raise capital.

When investors agree to participate in the syndicate, they pay no management fee but they agree to pay carried interest to the deal sponsor, which is Nucleation Capital. Depending upon your contribution to creating the deal memo and promoting the SPV, we will provide a fair split of the carried interest fee earned from the successful exit of this venture.

There are two ways that you can work with us to bring us potential deals and earn participation on the success of the ventures you bring:

1. Venture Associate: If you are a young professional keen to learn how to help ventures raise capital with some spare time to devote to meeting new teams and making introductions, we will bring you on as a Venture Associate.  You'll get training, guidance on how to find and connect with new ventures, and invitations to participate in due diligence sessions as well as other opportunities to enage with our syndicate team. We'll help you build your skills in this area and show you how to evaluate new ventures.

2. Ventury Ally: Perhaps you are a bit too busy to take on the task of writing deal memos but you are well connected, want to help worthy ventures raise capital and would like to make introductions. We invite you to join our team as a Venture Ally and we will delegate syndicate prep tasks to another member of our team. We would welcome your help connecting us to new teams working in our sectors through simple introductions.

This is an incredible opportunity for those keen to learn the ins and outs of the venture capital industry and for those who are deeply connected into the start-up world to help to help build stronger ventures.

Learn more here about this opportunity to join Nucleation's syndication team.

August 18, 2024

Aalo Atomics: Leveraging DOE R&D

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Nucleation announces its investment in Aalo Atomic's Series A with Fund I

Aalo Atomics is a group that recognizes the importance of being one of the first to market with an NRC-approved reactor design that can be shipped to customers. They have not only hit the ground running but they have adopted an approach that  leverages publicly-funded DOE design and development work that will help to expedite the NRC's approval of the Aalo-1, which will be modeled upon the DOE's MARVEL reactor that is being built now and which will be producing test data within the next few years.

MARVEL, a sodium-potassium-cooled micro-reactor and the first Gen IV design to come out of the national labs in over thirty years, is being built now with completion expected in 2025. The Idaho National Laboratory (INL) expects to complete construction, load fuel in 2026 and begin testing this very pared down design inside the Transient Reactor Test (TREAT) facility in 2027. Aalo will be well-situated to access the publicly available test data produced by this DOE research program, to provide it with a true competitive advantage when applying for their own NRC license for their comparable design.

In their own words, Aalo is "moving fast and continually hitting significant milestones," having managed to recruit nearly all of their technical team right out of the INL MARVEL program. With that level of highly experience technical expertise on board, they have been able to finish their conceptual design of the Aalo-1, a scaled up version of MARVEL, which they plan to use for their first commercial reactor. Aalo has also signed a siting memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the DOE for a site at the INL so that they have great access to the support team and testing facilities that are increasingly available to developers from the INL and they've set up an office in Idaho Falls for that purpose. Finally, they've already submitted a Regulatory Engagement Plan (REP) with the NRC and have negotiated a preliminary agreement with a potential customer for a fleet of Aalo-1 reactors. This is a pretty good start for a team that had previously raised just over $6 million, prior to closing the current round of $27 million just a few weeks ago. We are impressed by this team's speed, efficiency and competitive strategy and are honored to have joined an impressive group of investors backing them, which includes 50Y, Valor Equity Partners, Harpoon Ventures, Crosscut, SNR, Alumni Ventures, Earth Venture and more. The Aalo team is super-charging their efforts with this financing. They plan to continue to scale their team, adding sales, EPC, manufacturing, fuel and finance talent. They also plan to build a non-nuclear prototype to better refine and demonstrate their design (which we believe is a must in order to make real progress) and they also plan to open a factory headquarters to begin preparations for mass production capability, something that is only possibly because there are existing specifications available from the DOE's MARVEL design now being built.

We expect many more good things to come from this dynamic young team. Read more about Aalo and their Series A financing on their website, or from Bloomberg or Politico Pro.  Follow some additional milestones with reporting from Sonal Patel, of Power Magazine, on Aalo negotiating its first PPA.

 

(Note: Investors who have subscribed to Nucleation's Fund I Q3-2024 will get participation in this investment.)

July 9, 2024

Biden Signs the ADVANCE Act

By Rod Adams, Nucleation Capital Managing Partner and founder of Atomic Insights.

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President Biden has signed S. 870, “A bill to authorize appropriations for the United States Fire Administration and firefighter assistance grant programs, to advance the benefits of nuclear energy, and for other purposes.”

NRC’s Newly Aligned Mission Will Accelerate Nuclear Energy Deployment

With resounding bipartisan, bicameral support that also achieved enthusiastic support of the Executive Branch, the US has enacted a new law announcing its support of nuclear energy. It has the potential to make an even larger impact on global atomic energy use than the combination of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 and President Eisenhower’s Atoms for Peace program of international nuclear energy expansion.

Seventy years ago, that earlier combination of law and policy partially removed the blanket of tight security that had locked up fission energy in the years immediately following WWII. President Eisenhower’s clearly stated goal in enabling commercial atomic energy was to develop “the greatest of destructive forces” into a “great boon, for the benefit of all mankind.”

The “great boon” produced a wave of nuclear power plants that now produce the energy equivalent of Saudi Arabia’s oil production. That energy comes at a low marginal cost without air pollution or greenhouse gases, but nuclear power’s contribution to world energy production leveled off at roughly 2600 TWh/yr 20 years ago.

A growing fraction of the world’s science, engineering, environmental and political leaders agree that the situation needs to be changed. In November 2023, the United States led a coalition of two dozen nations in a promise to take action to triple world nuclear energy production by 2050.

Even before the U.S. signed that declaration of intent, House and Senate Republicans and Democrats began holding hearings, listening to constituents, debating with colleagues and engaging in what used to be considered the normal order of business to produce the ADVANCE Act of 2024.

I’ll say that again, Republicans and Democrats from both the House and Senate worked together in a sustained manner to pass a bill important to all of us in 2024. 

That bill was passed in May with a vote of 393-13 by the House of Representatives. It was passed in June by the Senate with a vote of 88-2.

The bill’s title – ADVANCE – is derived from “Accelerating Deployment of Versatile, Advanced Nuclear for Clean Energy.” The name might be dismissed as a clever acronym, but each of the words helps to convey the intent of the authors and approvers.

The new law of the land is clear; the United States has decided that it is moving forward at an increasing speed – accelerating – in the important task of deploying multi-function, advanced nuclear energy so we can spread the benefits of clean atomic energy to all mankind.

Mission alignment

A key accelerant is the Act’s direction to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to update its mission statement. The new law tells the NRC that its modern mission is to provide a reasonable assurance of adequate protection of public health and safety in “a manner that is efficient and does not unnecessarily limit” the use of radioactive materials and nuclear energy to benefit society.

Here is the complete provision from Section 501 of the Act

SEC. 501. MISSION ALIGNMENT.

(a) Update.—Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, the Commission shall, while remaining consistent with the policies of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 (42 U.S.C. 2011 et seq.) and the Energy Reorganization Act of 1974 (42 U.S.C. 5801 et seq.) (including to provide reasonable assurance of adequate protection of the public health and safety, to promote the common defense and security, and to protect the environment), update the mission statement of the Commission to include that licensing and regulation of the civilian use of radioactive materials and nuclear energy be conducted in a manner that is efficient and does not unnecessarily limit—

(1) the civilian use of radioactive materials and deployment of nuclear energy; or

(2) the benefits of civilian use of radioactive materials and nuclear energy technology to society.

Ted Nordhaus, the Executive Director of the Breakthrough Institute, supports the mission realignment. He is quoted by Axios as follows. “When we look back on this thing five years from now…. no one will remember anything else that happened in this piece of legislation, except for the change in the statutory mission.”

Nuclear energy opponents have sharply questioned the act’s NRC mission realignment section. Their opposition indicates the importance and the value of the provision in the national effort to more promptly deploy nuclear energy facilities.

In a piece published in the Montgomery County Sentinel, Karl Grossman provided reactions to the ADVANCE Act from a host of historically antinuclear groups and individuals, some of whom were most upset by the mandate given to the NRC.

Senator Ed Markey testified against the Act during the Senate floor debate, aiming particularly at the mission realignment section. He revealingly stated that the “Commission’s duty is to regulate, not facilitate.”

He is correct in noting that the new mission effectively tells the NRC to facilitate nuclear energy development, but wrong in implying that regulators shouldn’t facilitate the technology that they are assigned to regulate. FDA (Food and Drug Administration) staffers help us all retain access to both food and medicinal drugs while the staff members at the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) work hard to ensure that air travel is both safe and available.

Dr. Ed Lyman of the UCS, provided the following comment.

“The change to the NRC’s mission effectively directs the agency to enforce only the bare minimum level of regulation at every facility it oversees across the United States.”

Leaving out his emotionally laden modifiers, Dr. Lyman is correct in noting that the change essentially directs the NRC to impose the minimum necessary level of regulation. Safety rules should be viewed as a “pass-fail” assignment. If they are good enough, there is no reason to raise the bar, especially when the claimed improvement is in a calculated probability that is already tiny. Layered requirements do little or nothing but they inevitably increase costs.

How does changing the mission improve prospects for advanced nuclear energy?

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has always attracted talented, well-educated, service-minded employees. Most of them are dedicated to mission accomplishment but they have been culturally encouraged to believe their safety mission should be interpreted as avoiding all appearances of favoring the use of nuclear energy. The Advance Act revises the mission to align with the societal need for nuclear; it will change the culture.

Applicants should find a new, more helpful attitude emerging among regulators. Instead of assiduously avoiding advice that might be classified as “consulting” to the benefit of industry, they might offer their expertise and guidance with the goal of improving regulatory efficiency and the overall safety performance of the project being reviewed.

Junior NRC staff members have expressed serious concerns about climate change and air pollution as reasons why they became interested in nuclear energy. They understand how data show that most of the energy not produced by nuclear power will be produced by burning fossil fuels. The change in law provides a tool that enables them to resist negative influence from longer serving staff members who habitually avoid facilitating nuclear power.

Nuclear energy opponents have asserted that regulating without imposing unnecessary limits is simply a way to increase industry profits and improve the financial health of its investors, but they say that as if it is a bad thing.

They don’t like nuclear energy, often for competitive or ideological reasons. They know that profits and investor returns will attract the skills and resources that are required to make nuclear energy flourish. They prefer to starve the industry and are willing to forgo the environmental, health, safety and security benefits associated with a vibrant, growing clean nuclear energy industry.

The rest of us aren’t willing to give up the benefits, especially when decades worth of experience has shown us that nuclear energy risks are lower than those associated with available replacement power sources.

Regulatory efforts that eliminate unnecessary limits will help nuclear project deployers overcome some of the few credible concerns remaining about expanding the use of nuclear energy. It’s true that nuclear plants cost too much and take too long between planning and project completion.

A mission-driven regulator that protects health and safety while recognizing the relatively larger human costs and environmental risks associated with competitive energy sources will enable fission power to increase its role in addressing all facets of the energy trilemma – energy security, energy equity and environmental sustainability.

An exciting, growing, problem-solving and respected industry will attract an increasing flow of talented people who can develop the skills needed to reinforce the industry’s growth potential.

Nuclear plants use the same power conversion technology as fossil fuel plants, but they have recently been costing several multiples more in Western countries. There are no good reasons for that situation to continue to be true.

If bureaucratic inertia prevents the mission realignment directive from producing the intended results, the Advance Act’s language provides licensees a tool for challenging NRC impositions when a legal case can be made that NRC regulations or processes “unnecessarily limit” the use of nuclear energy.

Though it’s not blindingly obvious, giving the NRC a new sense of mission will make a global impact. The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission has a well-earned reputation as being the world’s most influential nuclear regulator. Its altered focus and processes will inspire improvements elsewhere.

Additional features of the ADVANCE Act

Even though it has the potential for outsized impact, the word count of the “mission realignment” portion of the Advance Act is a minor fraction of the act itself. There are additional useful features and provisions of the important new law.

The Advance Act gives the NRC increased responsibilities in international nuclear regulations and trade, reduces fees for advanced reactor license applicants, establishes prizes for the first of a kind licenses in five different categories, delineates some considerations for licensing reactors for nonelectric applications, directs the preparation for licensing demonstration reactors on DOE or other national security sites, mentions fusion energy, requires new considerations and processes related to nuclear plant siting choices, establishes timelines for combined license application reviews, requires regulatory provisions for micro-reactors, modifies prohibitions on foreign ownership of nuclear power plants, directs a report on advanced manufacturing for nuclear energy projects, seeks to improve the process of qualifying advanced and accident tolerant nuclear fuels, authorizes special hiring authority and requires improvements in nuclear reactor environmental reviews.

The Clean Air Task Force issued a press release with the following comment on the importance of the Act.

“As we continue to decarbonize our nation’s energy system and address growing energy demand, we need all options available and nuclear energy will play an important role in making sure we are able to meet these challenges.  The passage of the ADVANCE Act will bolster the United States’ ability to expand its capacity for this carbon-free, always available energy source,” said Evan Chapman, U.S. Federal Policy Director at Clean Air Task Force. “Nuclear energy has bipartisan support, and has a range of economic, national security, and climate benefits. This bill will address current barriers to deploying innovative nuclear energy technologies, help preserve existing nuclear capacity, and build capacity at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, marking a significant step forward for American nuclear energy leadership. We applaud Congress for passing this important legislation and look forward to President Biden’s signature to turn this act into law.”

Sources

You can find more detailed information about the rest of the act from these excellent sources.

  1. SIGNED: Bipartisan ADVANCE Act to Boost Nuclear Energy Now Law, Senate Committee on Environment & Public Works, July 9, 2024.
  2. Rodgers, Pallone, Carper, Capito Celebrate Signing of Bipartisan Nuclear Energy Bill, the ADVANCE Act, July 9, 2024.
  3. The White House, Bill Signed S. 870, July 9, 2024.
  4. The ADVANCE Act—Legislation Crucial for a U.S. Nuclear Renaissance—Clears Congress. Here's a Detailed Breakdown by Sonal Patel, Power Magazine June 20, 2024
  5. Congress Passes ADVANCE Act to Facilitate U.S. Development of Advanced Nuclear Reactors Sidley Austin LLP, June 26, 2024

July 9, 2024

The ADVANCE Act becomes law

President Biden has signed S. 870 into law, the Accelerating Deployment of Versatile, Advanced Nuclear for Clean Energy (ADVANCE) Act, which is bipartisan legislation that will provide a major boost to the future of nuclear energy in America.

SIGNED: Bipartisan ADVANCE Act to Boost Nuclear Energy Now Law

Newspaper articles are not yet out, so the following comes directly from the Senate Committee on Environment & Public Works Minority press release, issued jointly by Senate EPW leaders and House Commerce Committee leaders upon the signing of the legislation by President Biden. (For Nucleation Capital's reaction, please read "Biden Signs the ADVANCE Act," which is available on our blog.)

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the president signed into law the Accelerating Deployment of Versatile, Advanced Nuclear for Clean Energy (ADVANCE) Act, bipartisan legislation to provide a major boost to the future of nuclear energy in America.

U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), Ranking Member of the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee, EPW Chairman Tom Carper (D-Del.), U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.-05), Chair of the House Energy and Commerce (E&C) Committee, and U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-N.J.-06), Ranking Member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, released the below statements celebrating the enactment of the bipartisan bill (S.870), which passed the Senate by a vote of 88-2 and passed the House by a vote of 393-13.

“With the ADVANCE Act being signed into law, we secured a landmark win for the future of nuclear energy here in America,” EPW Ranking Member Capito said. “Getting substantive, bipartisan policy across the finish line isn’t always easy, but this is the result of years of work to build widespread consensus about the benefits of advanced nuclear reactors to our electric grid, economy, and environment. I’m thrilled the ADVANCE Act is now law to enable the deployment of new nuclear and help keep the United States as the world’s nuclear energy leader.”

“Today is a momentous day for our climate and America’s clean energy future,” EPW Chairman Carper said. “The urgency of the climate crisis demands a swift transition to cleaner energy sources, and fortunately the ADVANCE Act helps us to do just that. This bipartisan law will strengthen our energy and national security, lower greenhouse gas emissions and create thousands of new jobs, while ensuring the continued safety of this zero-emissions energy source. I’m thankful to each of my colleagues and their staffs who helped write, pass and deliver this bill to the President’s desk.”

“The Energy and Commerce Committee has a rich history of advancing major bipartisan solutions, and I’m extremely proud that our years of hard work to strengthen American nuclear energy have paid off with this significant legislation that will improve energy reliability and reduce costs for American families and businesses,” E&C Chair McMorris Rodgers said. “This is a major victory for the American people and will help cement U.S. energy leadership for decades to come. I want to thank everyone who has worked tirelessly to get this legislation signed into law, especially the Chair of our Energy Subcommittee and bill author Rep. Jeff Duncan.”

“Nuclear power plays an important role in producing carbon-free power for our electric grid, and now our nuclear industry will have the framework it needs to strengthen America’s energy leadership,” E&C Ranking Member Pallone said. “By ensuring we can deploy safer and more reliable nuclear power, the ADVANCE Act will help combat our dependence on dirty fossil fuels, strengthening our energy independence and securing our economic security.  I’m grateful to have worked alongside my colleagues to get this across the finish line.”

The ADVANCE Act will:

  • Facilitate American Nuclear Energy Leadership by:
    • Empowering the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to lead in international forums to develop regulations for advanced nuclear reactors.
    • Directing the Department of Energy (DOE) to improve its process for approving the export of American technology to international markets, while maintaining strong standards for nuclear non-proliferation.
  • Support Development and Deployment of New Nuclear Energy Technologies by:
    • Reducing regulatory costs for companies seeking to license advanced nuclear reactor technologies.
    • Creating a prize to incentivize the successful deployment of next-generation reactor technologies.
    • Requiring the NRC to develop a pathway to enable the timely licensing of microreactors and nuclear facilities at brownfield and retired fossil-fuel energy generation sites.
    • Directing the NRC to establish an accelerated licensing review process to site and construct reactors at existing nuclear sites.
  • Preserve Existing Nuclear Energy by:
    • Modernizing outdated rules that restrict international investment.
  • Strengthen America’s Nuclear Energy Fuel Cycle and Supply Chain Infrastructure by:
    • Directing the NRC to enhance its ability to qualify and license accident-tolerant fuels and advanced nuclear fuels that can increase safety and economic competitiveness for existing reactors and the next generation of advanced reactors.
    • Tasking the NRC to evaluate advanced manufacturing techniques to build nuclear reactors better, faster, cheaper, and smarter.
  • Improve Commission Resources and Efficiency by:
    • Providing flexibility for the NRC to better manage and invest its resources in activities that support NRC’s modernization efforts and address staffing issues.
    • Providing the NRC Chair the tools to hire and retain exceptionally well-qualified individuals to successfully and safely review and process applications for advanced nuclear reactor licenses.
    • Requiring the NRC to update its Mission Statement to reflect modern beneficial use of nuclear material and energy.
    • Mandating the NRC to establish a licensing structure to support an efficient, timely, and predictable regulatory review.
    • Charging the NRC to streamline the NEPA environmental review process.
Sources

You can find more detailed information about the rest of the act from these excellent sources.

  1. SIGNED: Bipartisan ADVANCE Act to Boost Nuclear Energy Now Law, Senate Committee on Environment & Public Works, July 9, 2024.
  2. Rodgers, Pallone, Carper, Capito Celebrate Signing of Bipartisan Nuclear Energy Bill, the ADVANCE Act, July 9, 2024.
  3. The White House, Bill Signed S. 870, July 9, 2024.
  4. The ADVANCE Act—Legislation Crucial for a U.S. Nuclear Renaissance—Clears Congress. Here's a Detailed Breakdown by Sonal Patel, Power Magazine June 20, 2024
  5. Congress Passes ADVANCE Act to Facilitate U.S. Development of Advanced Nuclear Reactors Sidley Austin LLP, June 26, 2024

June 18, 2024

Congress overwhelmingly passes the ADVANCE Act

By a vote of 88 to 2, the Congress overwhelmingly passed the reconciled ADVANCE Act (S. 870) in a powerful, bipartisan show of support for advanced nuclear power, accelerating deployments and bringing the NRC into the 21st century, so it can enable and support the growth of next-generation nuclear energy. 

Alexander C. Kaufman, writing in the Huffington Post, called the ADVANCE (Accelerating Deployment of Versatile, Advanced Nuclear for Clean Energy) Act "the biggest clean-energy bill since Biden's climate law." What it really is, is legislation designed to "reverse the American nuclear industry’s decades-long decline and launch a reactor-building spree to meet surging demand for green electricity at home and to catch up with booming rivals overseas." And, according to Diana DeGette (D-Colo.), a “much needed modernization of our nuclear regulatory framework.”

There are a number of very important provisions in the bill but, one of the most important is the provision which tasks the NRC with rewriting its mission statement so as to avoid unduly limiting nuclear and thereby preventing efforts to allow society to benefit from its clean power. The bill also reduces the fees charged to developers and helps speed up the process for licensing new reactors, hiring key staff and coordinating with foreign regulators to speed deployments.

The passage of the ADVANCE Act continues a long-term trend of strong bipartisan unity on nuclear-related bills, demonstrating agreement by Democrats and Republicans on the importance of expanding clean and reliable energy. The House of Representatives had previously passed its corresponding legislation by a vote of 365 to 36, strengthening and expanding upon the version passed back in July by the Senate.

“Republicans and Democrats recognize the development of new nuclear technologies is critical to America’s energy security and our environment,” Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), the bill’s lead sponsor, said on the Senate floor Tuesday evening. “Today, nuclear power provides about 20% of our nation’s electricity. Importantly, it’s emissions-free electricity that is 24/7, 365 days a year.”

“This bipartisan policy creates the framework for companies to start building that order book for a second project and a third project and ultimately get the NRC ready to license dozens per year,” said Nicholas McMurray, the managing director of international and nuclear policy at energy policy group ClearPath.

The ADVANCE Act is specifically tailored to boost the next generation of reactors being designed now, that are not currently in commercial production in the U.S. Some of these newer designs will be migrating away from water cooling and will use other types of coolants, such as liquid metal or high-temperature gas, which have a range of benefits, such as enhanced safety, allowing reactors to run on different types of fuel, producing less waste and being able to operate at higher temperatures and be sized to suit the needs of users in more settings than a traditional nuclear plant.

In recognition of these so-called fourth-generation reactor models’ unique uses and the urgency of bringing these designs to market, the bill authorizes the Department of Energy to give out financial awards to the first companies to meet specific goals, such as using fuel made from recycled nuclear waste or generating heat that could be used for industrial process heat, rather than electricity production.

Given that the Biden-Harris Administration has just announced steps to bolster the domestic nuclear industry and advance America's Clean Energy Future, it seems highly likely that Biden will sign the legistlation. Meanwhile, the DOE has also just announced that it has allocated an additional $900 million to accelerate the deployment of next-generation small modular reactors.

Together, these actions amount to laying the foundation necessary to help America finally compete with Russia and China. Speaking in support of the legislation Tuesday, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said the bill would “support job growth, clean energy and leadership while preserving the NRC’s fundamental safety mission.'

Sources

The Huffington Post, "Congress Just Passed The Biggest Clean-Energy Bill Since Biden's Climate Law:It's all on nuclear," by Alexander C. Kaufman June 20, 2024.

DOE Fact Sheet: Biden-Harris Administration Announces New Steps to Bolster Domestic Nuclear Industry and Advance America’s Clean Energy Future, May 29th, 2024.

Office of Nuclear Energy, Enhanced Safety of Advanced Reactors, 2024.

DOE Announces $900 Million to Accelerate the Deployment of Next-Generation Light-Water Small Modular Reactors, June 17, 2024

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