Gates’ TerraPower Advances the Natrium

Bill Gates' TerraPower has "broken ground" at the future site of the Natrium Power Plant, what will be an advanced nuclear power plant. This follows the acceptance of TerraPower's Construction Permit Application for review by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission in May, 2024.

Bill Gates wrote about this ground-breaking in Kemmerer, Wyoming on his GatesNotes blog and he provided further background on his interest in advanced nuclear, which started as far back as 2008. It just so happened that when he fell in love with the density, inherent safety and superior performance of advanced nuclear power, he was able to afford to hire a team and launch TerraPower on his own. It also didn't hurt that he happened to be buddies with Warren Buffet, the CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, the company that owns PacifiCorp, which owns a lot of struggling coal plants, so he was able to score a site on the property of a retiring coal plant, on which to plan to build his demonstration reactor.

In fact, advanced nuclear holds tremendous prospects for resurrecting the value of these ill-fated plants and the economic vitality of those regions suffering from the closures of coal, most of which are closing as a result of competition form cheap natural gas that is also better suited for being "dispatched," at a minute's notice, if, let's say, the wind stops blowing. As many as 80% of these plants could, according to a study done by the DOE, be converted to advanced nuclear plants cost-effectively, because they are reuse turbines, generators and even transmission lines that are already there. Taking what are currently brownfield sites with very little value because of the toxicity, health and carbon-impacts of coal and converting them to clean power plants that use advanced fission to generate both power and heat, is starting to look like a very lucrative endeavor.

No wonder Bill Gates has already invested over a billion dollars and has committed to putting billions more of his own funds into this venture. Being the sixth wealthiest person in the world gives him this option. And, if you think that, because you read a lot and you've had exeptional success with a software company, that you have what it takes to create the best advanced nuclear technology and believe that it will be rapidly adopted and deployed around the world and possibly put the remainder of the world's coal plants out of business, investing your billions into that makes total sense.

For the rest of us, however, investing into a venture fund like Nucleation Capital, which is dedicated to building a diversified pool of advanced nuclear ventures with various alternative designs, more than a few of which could find real traction within differing niches of the energy markets which also need power but may prefer a different configuration or set of features, may make more sense and pose considerably less risk. Especially when the fund provides low-cost participation, so that those of us not in the top ten wealthiest humans list, can access that fund without breaking the bank but nevertheless have a meaningful chance of participating in the growth of nuclear around the world.

Read Bill's GatesNotes announcement here: "We just broke ground on America’s first next-gen nuclear facility: Kemmerer, Wyoming will soon be home to the most advanced nuclear facility in the world" Bill Gates, June 10, 2024.

Bloomberg, Bill Gates Says He’s Ready to Put Billions Into Nuclear Power, by Caleb Mutua, June 16, 2024.

Published by Nucleation Capital in Advanced Nuclear, Brilliant thinkers, Construction costs, Energy transition, Future of Energy, Government support, History Timeline, History-making, LINKS, Nuclear competitiveness, Nuclear financing, Nuclear innovation, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Solving climate, US competitiveness, US technological leadership, Zero emission energy

May 29, 2024

Biden’s Brilliance Advances Nuclear

The Biden-Harris Administration held a summit on Domestic Nuclear Deployment and announced major new steps to bolster the U.S. domestic nuclear industry and advance America’s (and likely the whole world's) clean energy future. This is political leadership, informed by science, industry, policy, practice and realism, at its best. The effects of Biden's brilliance in this area—with his focus on accelerating the deployment of the only energy technology that can compete head to head with fossil fuels—can make a real difference in how quickly and cost-effectively next generation nuclear will get to market and is exactly what we need to finally enable us to move the needle on climate.

According to numerous analyses, the Biden Administration is taking decisive steps to support the construction of large-scale nuclear reactors, crucial for meeting our clean energy goals, as well as supporting the licensing and development of next-generation nuclear power plants. The White House has formed an expert group whose focus and mission will be to work on solving the problems that are cause delays to new projects and thus eliminate, reduce or mitigate industry risks to ensure timely completion of projects and bolster progress towards a carbon-free power sector by 2035 and a net-zero emissions economy by 2050. The text of the White House Fact Sheet is so perfect, it is better to reprint it than attempt to summarize it. See the first few paragraphs below, but click the links to go directly to the sources.

For decades, nuclear power has been the largest source of clean energy in the United States, accounting for 19% of total energy produced last year. The industry directly employs nearly 60,000 workers in good paying jobs, maintains these jobs for decades, and supports hundreds of thousands of other workers. In the midst of transformational changes taking place throughout the U.S. energy system, the Biden-Harris Administration is continuing to build on President Biden’s unprecedented goal of a carbon free electricity sector by 2035 while also ensuring that consumers across the country have access to affordable, reliable electric power, and creating good-paying clean energy jobs. Alongside renewable power sources like wind and solar, a new generation of nuclear reactors is now capturing the attention of a wide range of stakeholders for nuclear energy’s ability to produce clean, reliable energy and meet the needs of a fast-growing economy, driven by President Biden’s Investing in America agenda and manufacturing boom. The Administration recognizes that decarbonizing our power system, which accounts for a quarter of all the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions, represents a pivotal challenge requiring all the expertise and ingenuity our nation can deliver.

The Biden-Harris Administration is today hosting a White House Summit on Domestic Nuclear Deployment, highlighting the collective progress being made from across the public and private sectors. Under President Biden’s leadership, the Administration has taken a number of actions to strengthen our nation’s energy and economic security by reducing – and putting us on the path to eliminating – our reliance on Russian uranium for civil nuclear power and building a new supply chain for nuclear fuel, including: signing on to last year’s multi-country declaration at COP28 to triple nuclear energy capacity globally by 2050; developing new reactor designs; extending the service lives of existing nuclear reactors; and growing the momentum behind new deployments. Recognizing the importance of both the existing U.S. nuclear fleet and continued build out of large nuclear power plants, the U.S. is also taking steps to mitigate project risks associated with large nuclear builds and position U.S. industry to support an aggressive deployment target.

To help drive reactor deployment while ensuring ratepayers and project stakeholders are better protected, theAdministration is announcing today the creation of a Nuclear Power Project Management and Delivery working group that will draw on leading experts from across the nuclear and megaproject construction industry to help identify opportunities to proactively mitigate sources of cost and schedule overrun risk. Working group members will be made up of federal government entities, including the White House Office of Domestic Climate Policy, the White House Office of Clean Energy Innovation & Implementation, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, and the Department of Energy. The working group will engage a range of stakeholders, including project developers, engineering, procurement and construction firms, utilities, investors, labor organizations, academics, and NGOs, which will each offer individual views on how to help further the Administration’s goal of delivering an efficient and cost-effective deployment of clean, reliable nuclear energy and ensuring that learnings translate to cost savings for future construction and deployment.

The United States Army is also announcing that it will soon release a Request for Information to inform a deployment program for advanced reactors to power multiple Army sites in the United States. Small modular nuclear reactors and microreactors can provide defense installations resilient energy for several years amid the threat of physical or cyberattacks, extreme weather, pandemic biothreats, and other emerging challenges that can all disrupt commercial energy networks. Alongside the current defense programs through the Department of the Air Force microreactor pathfinder at Eielson AFB and the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) Strategic Capabilities Office (SCO) Project Pele prototype transportable microreactor protype, the Army is taking a key role in exploring the deployment of advanced reactors that help meet their energy needs. These efforts will help inform the regulatory and supply chain pathways that will pave the path for additional deployments of advanced nuclear technology to provide clean, reliable energy for federal installations and other critical infrastructure.

Additionally, the Department of Energy released today a new primer highlighting the expected enhanced safety of advanced nuclear reactors including passive core cooling capabilities and advanced fuel designs. Idaho National Laboratory is also releasing a new advanced nuclear reactor capital cost reduction pathway tool that will help developers and stakeholders to assess cost drivers for new projects.

Continue reading the White House announcement here: "Fact Sheet: Biden-⁠Harris Administration Announces New Steps to Bolster Domestic Nuclear Industry and Advance America’s Clean Energy Future," May 29, 2024.

March 24, 2024

Tech companies collaborating to accelerate advanced nuclear

Google has partnered with Microsoft and Nucor to accelerate advanced clean electricity technologies through a new "demand aggregation model" to help bring "first-of-its-kind" commercial projects to market.

Technology companies compete with each other in a lot of ways but they all want to achieve the goal of being able to run operations and data centers using 24/7 carbon-free energy. They've done about as much as they can trying to buy, build and/or get credits from wind and solar plants and it hasn't been sufficient. With its announcement, Google acknowledges that they "need a broader portfolio of advanced clean electricity technologies" to be able to fully decarbonize their energy consumption.

The announcement lists the following as "advanced clean electricity technologies": next-generation geothermal, advanced nuclear, clean hydrogen and long-duration energy storage. This is an astounding announcement because it makes it clear that the tech companies are now moving their focus away from wind and solar, which are just too inconsistent and unreliable, to better, more reliable options.

The initiative aims to aggregate their demand for better types of clean energy to increase their buying power, their lobby power (we have to believe) and diversify the risks of investing in first-of-a-kind (FOAK) plants, whose costs are always higher than "Nth" of a kind plants. They recognize that there are a bevy of developers looking to build next-generation nuclear (and probably also geothermal) plants and they want to be able to help these ventures build those FOAK units, without each individually and solely having to take on risk. This is a tremendously important initiative and concept, it will definitely help accelerate the timelines for companies seeking to get plants built.

THe announcement comes just a few weeks after Amazon announced their purchase of Talen's nuclear-power Cumulous Data Center, which will enable Amazon Web Services to achieve their very ambitious decarbonization goal by 2025. But there aren't many nuclear power plants with spare generating capacity. In order to get access to sufficient quantities of 24/7 clean nuclear power, the U.S. will need to start building next-generation plants, many of which will be Gen IV designs.

Read more at Google's The Keyword: "A new initiative with Microsoft and Nucor to accelerate advanced clean electricity technologies," by Maud Texler, Global Director, Clean Energy and Decarbonization Development March 19, 2024.

Also see the IEA Report, Net Zero by 2050: A Roadmap for the Global Energy Sector, cited by Google for its support of the need for advanced energy technologies, revised October 2021.

Published by Nucleation Capital in 100% Renewables, Advanced Nuclear, Advanced Nuclear Customers, Carbon emissions, Corporate decarbonization, Corporate purpose, Future of Energy, LINKS, Nuclear competitiveness, Nuclear financing, Nuclear innovation, Private companies, Public companies, Solving climate, US competitiveness, US technological leadership, Zero emission energy

March 7, 2024

Amazon buys Nuclear-Powered Data Center

Amazon has leapt out ahead of other large tech companies in meeting its 2025 carbon reduction goals by buying Talen's existing nuclear-powered data center, adjacent to and powered by Talen's Susquehanna Nuclear Power Plant. This, however, is part of a trend in which tech companies are going nuclear . . . in order to obtain 24x7 clean energy.

According to Nuclear Newswire, Talen Energy announced the sale of Cumulus Data Assets, its 960-megawatt data center campus to cloud service provider Amazon Web Services (AWS), a subsidiary of Amazon, for $650 million. Cumulus sits on a 1,200-acre campus in Pennsylvania and is directly powered by the adjacent Susquehanna Steam Electric Station, which generates 2.5 gigawatts of power.

“We believe this is a transformative transaction with long term benefits,” said Mark “Mac” McFarland, Talen president and chief executive officer of Talen, on a Monday call with investors and media. As power demand continues to rise worldwide, “data centers are at the heart of that growth,” he added.

“Several years ago, Amazon set an ambitious goal to reach net-zero carbon by 2040—ten years ahead of the Paris Agreement. As part of that goal, we’re on a path to power our operations with 100 percent renewable energy by 2025—five years ahead of our original 2030 target,” an Amazon spokesperson said. “To supplement our wind and solar energy projects, which depend on weather conditions to generate energy, we’re also exploring new innovations and technologies and investing in other sources of clean, carbon-free energy. This agreement with Talen Energy for carbon-free energy is one project in that effort.”

The Susquehanna nuclear power plant is the sixth largest nuclear power plant in the United States and produces 63 million kilowatt hours per day. Its two General Electric boiling water reactors have been on line since 1983 and are licensed to operate through 2042 and 2044, respectively. Talen, its majority owner, is a Houston, Texas-based company, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in May 2022 as part of a financial restructuring. The company exited bankruptcy in 2023, and officials have said that this recent transaction with AWS is a boost to its cash flow. After paying off debts, interest and other costs, Talen expects net proceeds of $361 million from the deal with Amazon.

Read more at Nuclear Newswire "Amazon buys nuclear-powered data center from Talen," March 7, 2024.

Published by Nucleation Capital in Advanced Nuclear Customers, Brilliant thinkers, Carbon emissions, Corporate decarbonization, Energy abundance, Future of Energy, LINKS, Nuclear competitiveness, Private companies, Public companies, Solving climate, Zero emission energy

February 28, 2024

The Atomic Energy Advancement Act Clears the House

The Atomic Energy Advancement Act, which aims to accelerate the deployment of nuclear energy technologies, such as advanced nuclear reactors, was passed by the otherwise highly polarized House of Representatives by the overwhelmingly bipartisan vote of 365 to 36. The bill directs the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) "To advance the benefits of nuclear energy by enabling efficient, timely, and predictable licensing, regulation, and deployment of nuclear energy technologies."

In particular, the Atomic Energy Advancement Act (HR 6544) gives the Nuclear Regulatory Commission one year to update the mission statement of the Commission to specifically ensure that the licensing and regulation of nuclear energy activities be conducted in a manner that "does not unnecessarily limit: (A) the potential of nuclear energy to improve the general welfare; and (B) the benefits of nuclear energy technology to society. This is a welcomed shift, as previously, the NRC acted as though their only mandate was "zero accidents." When that translates to zero licensed reactors, that makes us all far less safe because the alternative is the use of deadly fossil fuels. The NRC must now balance these clear priorities!

Representative Jeff Duncan of South Carolina applauded the passage of the HR 6544 saying: “The Atomic Energy Advancement Act restores American leadership in nuclear energy and technology which is critical to our economic and national security. I’m proud to lead the most significant update to nuclear energy policy in the United States in over a generation.”

Rep. Diana DeGette, a Democrat from Colorado, who co-led the bill with Rep. Jeff Duncan (R-S.C.), released the following statement celebrating its passage: “Tackling the climate crisis means we must modernize our approach to all clean energy sources, including nuclear. From enhancing our energy supply chain to recruiting a highly trained and skilled workforce, this bill makes critical updates to improve safety and ensure our nuclear regulations are up-to-date, pushing us closer to a carbon-free energy future.”

“Nuclear energy is not a silver bullet, but if we’re going to get to net zero carbon emissions by 2050, it must be part of the mix,” DeGette continued. “As this bill heads to the Senate, I look forward to continuing to work with my colleagues in the House and Senate to find bipartisan solutions to address our clean energy needs.”

This House bill must now be reconciled with the Senate’s ADVANCE Act (S.1111), which passed in 2023 and was very similar. Once they are reconciled and passed again, the bill can be signed by President Biden.

The Hill, "House approves bipartisan bill aimed at bolstering nuclear energy," by Rachel Frazin, February 28, 2024.
Also see Congress.gov: The Atomic Energy Advancement Act (H.R. 6544).

Rep. Diana DeGette, "DeGette celebrates passage of her bill to improve nuclear energy safety and modernize regulation," Feb. 28, 2024.

Published by Nucleation Capital in Advanced Nuclear, Energy abundance, Future of Energy, Government support, History Timeline, History-making, LINKS, Nuclear competitiveness, Nuclear financing, Nuclear innovation, Nuclear maritime propulsion, Nuclear R&D, Politicians supporting nuclear, Regulatory reform, Solving climate, US competitiveness, US technological leadership, Zero emission energy

February 27, 2024

Deviations from the abnormal to the freakish

David Gelles bravely titles his Climate Forward article in the New York Times, "Scientists are Freaking Our About Ocean Temperatures." It would have been every bit as accurate, but possibly less acceptable, if he had said scientists are freaking out about climate change or global warming rather than "ocean temperatures." But, since much of the warming that we're causing is being absorbed by the oceans, ocean temperatures are a proxy for global warming. They took a gob-smacking leap up this year, shifting the historic pattern of more gradual increases.

This astonishing leap follows a record hot January and one of the longest runs of record-breaking summer temperatures the world has ever seen (shown in the above chart in pale orange). As a function of this, ocean temperatures are now in unknown territory, as shown by the red line in the graph above, reflecting readings for 2024.

Scientists have hypotheses as to what might have caused such a dramatic shift. To understand some of what the world's top scientists are thinking, we recommend you read "Global warming in the pipeline," by James E. Hansen, Makiko Sato, Leon Simons and other scientists, published in September 2023 by Oxford University Press, if you are capable of following deeply scientific, dense analysis. Alternatively, Dr. Hansen and his CSAS team sent a thank you memo to supporters in February, with something of a summary of the conclusion from the Pipeline paper. You can read this entire memo here, but we quote the following paragraph:

In Pipeline, among other things, we show that climate sensitivity is higher than IPCC’s best estimate and human-made aerosols are a larger climate forcing that is driving global warming acceleration. A stunning global change now underway is darkening of Earth (Fig. 1). Earth’s albedo (reflectivity) decreased since 2015 by an amount that has an effect on global temperature equivalent to a CO2 increase of more than 100 ppm. This darkening has doubled Earth’s energy imbalance and thrown into a cocked hat official claims about achieving climate targets. These facts make it more difficult, but not impossible, to secure a propitious climate for future generations.

Gelles also tries to answer the question of what's driving the heat. He writes: "Global warming, caused by the burning of fossil fuels, has been driving up global temperatures on land and in the sea for decades now. Over the past year, worldwide average temperatures were more than 1.5 degrees Celsius, or 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit, higher than before the industrial age. New data from a variety of sources has led some climate scientists to suggest that global warming is accelerating." And since oceans absorb most of the added heat near the earth's surface, they have been steadily warming for years. Even so, data collected in the past year has been shocking to those who have been following the trends. It's pretty much "off the charts."

[Aside: The above graphic provides a powerful visualization of the acceleration of warming that is now happening. We appreciate that this news can be deeply disturbing on many levels, including because we've long been led to believe that it would take a lot longer for the severe heating effects of climate change to be felt. That may no longer be true, although clearly scientists don't fully know how all of the climate feedback loops work. We are deeply worried that we will see a year in which these super warm oceans turbo-charge the already record-breaking hurricane seasons that we've seen coming from the Atlantic in recent years. We post this information, so more people can realize just what unprecedented territory we are in. End Aside.]

THINGS YOU CAN DO

Should you be motivated to do more than you've done before to tackle climate, here's our list:

Review this listing of pronuclear nonprofits, influencers, artists and experts and support efforts to spread the word about the benefits of nuclear power.
Review Bank of America's analysts' report, "The Nuclear Necessity," to get ideas on public market investment options.
For managed fund offerings, we think Parnassus Investments represents the best of the ESG-focused sustainability public fund options we've seen.
Lastly, Nucleation offers a low-cost venture capital fund option, which, while higher risk, is one of the most impactful ways to help accelerate the commercialization of innovative solutions. We are clearly biased but, as Vinod Khosla has remarked about venture investing, “You only lose 1x your money if you fail, but if you succeed, you can make 100x.”

Read more at New York Times, "Scientists Are Freaking Out About Ocean Temperatures: "It's like an omen of the future," by David Gelles, Feb. 27, 2024.

Published by Nucleation Capital in Advanced Nuclear, Climate mayhem, Extreme weather, Future of Energy, LINKS, Nuclear innovation, Solving climate, Zero emission energy

February 23, 2024

How Advanced Technologies Revolutionize Nuclear

This fabulous image shows an electron beam welding metal, a demonstration of new technology developed by Sheffield Forgemasters, a British steelmaker. This innovation will contribute to a new generation of advanced reactors that are smaller, more cost-effective and which can be produced at scale, in part because welding times will go from multiple months to a few hours.

Sheffield's new technology is geared for faster and better fabrication of the pressure vessels that hold the nuclear fuel and where the nuclear reaction takes place. These thick steel containers provide the first level barrier of containment for the nuclear process and radioactive fuel materials and transuranics. Traditionally, creating such vessels required a time-consuming and expensive forging and welding process.

Sheffield Forgemasters' innovative local electron beam welding technique dramatically improves both the process and the quality of the weld by utilizing a particle gun to shoot a very precise beam of high-energy electrons that joins materials at the atomic level without needing to add material, resulting in a faster, stronger and more perfect welds in vessels up to 8 inches thick, that may not even require inspections. This can greatly reduce both the cost and time that it takes to fabricate nuclear pressure vessels while simultaneously producing vessels that are more reliable and longer-lasting.

Sheffield isn't the only group that has been working to improve nuclear technology and capabilities. There are probably hundreds of groups around the world working on the myriad aspects of the nuclear energy industry's challenges, improving communications and even educating the broader community. Nuclear power is just starting to benefit from the advancements provided by the digital age, starting with far more powerful software capabilities that can help with design, testing, modeling, analyses, rendering and reporting. In the future, virtual twinning, remote monitoring, and the use of artificial intelligence, such as that being developed by NuclearN to optimize operations, update procedures, reduce risks through predictive maintenance, conduct AI-based training and many other operations, will increase capabilities and reduce costs both for designing new reactors and for their long-term operations.

Additionally, even as the Congress is working to better rationalize nuclear regulation and reduce its costs by passing a reconciled version of the Senate's bipartisan ADVANCE Act with the version passed by the House, the Atomic Energy Advancement Act, developers are already looking at deploying and utilizing a plethora of advanced capabilities to accelerate development times and reduce build and operational costs. These include:

Utilizing nano technolologies, miniaturization, automation, and robotics in manufacturing and handling radioactive materials.
Using 3-D printing and other advanced fabrication technologies to enable rapid design iteration, fast fabrication of unique components
Deploying advanced materials that improve performance while reducing size, weight, production steps and/or production costs
Use of more sophisticated test equipment and faster data analysis
Leveraging technological improvements developed by other industries, such as how Deep Isolation utilizes geologic analysis, horizontal drilling, borehole stabilization and capping technologies developed by the oil and gas industry
Improving community engagement processes to design and deliver more thoughtful, inclusive, socially just and hence successful engagement processes that build trust and two-way communication.

Nucleation Capital believes that the pressure to decarbonize energy presents one of the largest economic opportunities humanity has ever seen. Nucleation will also invest in a wide range of these vertical supply and support ventures, such as NuclearN and Deep Isolation.

Read more at:

BNN "Sheffield Forgemasters Revolutionizes Nuclear Power with Electron Beam Welding," by Mahnoor Jehangir, February 27, 2024.

The Welder, "Sheffield Forgemasters makes global leap in welding technology," by Josh Welton, April 13, 2024.

Published by Nucleation Capital in Advanced Nuclear, Construction costs, Future of Energy, LINKS, Nuclear competitiveness, Nuclear innovation, Private companies, Solving climate, Uranium & Mining, Zero emission energy

February 9, 2024

EU Declares Nuclear to be one of 17 Strategic Decarbonization Technologies

The Council of EU member states and the European Parliament agreed to label nuclear power as a strategic technology together with 16 other technologies declared strategic for the EU’s decarbonization, following months of negotiations in Brussels over the Net-Zero Industry Act (NZIA).

The NZIA aims to speed up the deployment of technologies that can contribute to meeting the EU’s net-zero emissions target. This is seen as a direct response by the EU to the Biden Administration's Inflation Reduction Act and efforts by other countries, including China, to become global leaders in the manufacturing of clean technologies like batteries, heat pumps and solar panels.

The NZIA aims to accelerate permitting procedures for industrial production sites involved in the manufacturing of components needed for renewable energy technologies, but also for nuclear power.

Negotiators representing the Parliament, the Council, and the European Commission confirmed on Tuesday the “strategic” nature of projects relating to nuclear energy, which are included in a single list of 17 net-zero technologies that will benefit from the NZIA.

French MEP Christophe Grudler who took part in the talks for the centrist Renew Europe group in Parliament, explained that each EU country will be sovereign in defining the projects that will be considered strategic on its territory, and thus which will benefit from faster permitting and simplified administrative rules.

However, as a result of the negotiations, “the two types of energy (namely, renewable and nuclear) are finally being treated equally as part of the reindustrialisation process,” Grudler rejoiced.

The agreement encompasses both traditional nuclear nuclear technologies as well as future third and fourth generation designs, i.e. small modular reactors (SMRs) and other types of advanced nuclear reactors and their corresponding fuel cycles.

“The message is clear: the EU recognises that we need nuclear power to achieve the objectives of the Green Deal,” the French MEP told Euractiv.

Read more at EURACTIV's "Nuclear power officially labelled as 'strategic' for EU's decarbonisation," by Paul Messad, February 7, 2024.

See EURACTIV's "EU Parliament backs extensive net-zero industry ‘wishlist’, including nuclear,"by Paul Messad, Nov. 23, 2023.

Published by Nucleation Capital in Advanced Nuclear, Carbon emissions, Climate change, Climate policy, Government support, History Timeline, History-making, International support for nuclear, LINKS, Nuclear financing, Nuclear-inclusive energy policy, Politicians supporting nuclear, Solving climate, Zero emission energy

February 7, 2024

First private British nuclear power plant

The first fully privately-fund nuclear power plant is in development in the U.K., with the goal of providing power to up to two million homes. The project is being developed by a group called Community Nuclear Power, which has already selected and secured a site.

The plan is to deploy four Westinghouse AP300 small modular reactors on a site on the north bank of the River Tees, in Teesside, U.K. The local authorities are backing the company's plan to locate the new plant on a site was previously home to a chemical plant and adjacent to the renowned Saltholme bird reserve. The new facility may be welcomed, in fact, as a way to help clean up both the air and the water in the area, since nuclear power emits no toxic chemical or carbon dioxide emissions.

Community Nuclear Power evaluated options from a number of SMR developers, most likely including Rolls-Royce and EDF, which is developing an SMR based largely on reactors already being built and used for nuclear-powered submarines. The company, however, is reported as having inked a deal with Westinghouse, although the formal announcement has to be made.

According to a company representative, the plan will be fully privately financed and will not be seeking government or taxpayer support. Nevertheless, it is a step along the path that was recently set out by the U.K. government's recently issued Civil Nuclear Roadmap, originally championed by former prime minister, Boris Johnson, which references SMRs and their advantages for expediting deployment because they are smaller and can be made in factories and shipped in modules to the construction site, making construction faster and less expensive.

According to Jonathan Leake, writing in The Telegraph (and reposted by Yahoo Finance), there is a definite chance that the Community Nuclear Power project, if successful, could be in operation ahead of both Hinkley Point C, already in construction in Somerset but delayed, and Sizewell C, already being planned for the Suffolk coast and putting 1.5 Gigawatts of power onto the grid by the early 2030s. It would likely benefit from the government's commitment to accelerate the deployment process towards achieving a quadrupling of U.K. nuclear power.

This is an exciting development for those working to commercialize SMRs and will most certainly be a boost to others looking to accelerate the deployment of clean energy around the world with privately financed SMR projects.

Read more at Yahoo Finace "First ‘private’ nuclear reactor to power 2m British homes," by Jonathan Leake, February 7, 2024.

Published by Nucleation Capital in Advanced Nuclear, Advanced Nuclear Customers, Capital reallocation, Construction costs, Future of Energy, Great British Nuclear, History Timeline, History-making, International support for nuclear, Investor activity, LINKS, Nuclear competitiveness, Nuclear financing, Private companies, Solving climate, UK Climate Policy, Zero emission energy

January 5, 2024

Sweden appoints world’s first “National Nuclear Power Coordinator”

Sweden is continuing to demonstrate exceptionally smart and effective management towards climate goals by appointing the world's first "National Nuclear Power Coordinator," to manage the growth of nuclear energy in the country.

Sweden previously announced its intentions to expand the amount of nuclear power used in the country with the construction of new nuclear generating capacity equivalent by 2 gigawatts (approximately two large-scale reactors) by 2035 and up to 10 gigawatts (about ten new large-scale reactors) coming online by 2045. In November, the Swedish parliament approved the bill that allows new reactors at existing and new sites starting in 2024. Now, Swedish Energy & Industry Minister Ebba Busch has taken bold action to help ensure the success of this key governmental initiative, with the appointment of Carl Berglöf as national nuclear power coordinator.

Berglöf, who recently won the 2023 Honorary Award of the Swedish Nuclear Society in recognition of fifteen years of work in the nuclear field and who has been a nuclear advisor at the industry organisation Energiföretagen Sweden since 2017, will start his new position as national nuclear power coordinator on February 1st.

This job will involve supporting the Swedish government in its work to reach the goal of expanding nuclear power, including serving as a single point of contact with regards to nuclear matters, suggesting ways to accelerate the process, pushing for any supplementary measures that are required to get the job done, and communicating about the initiative to the public. From our perspective, this new appointment promises to be a shining example to the rest of the world about how to improve the process of managing an ambitious expansion of nuclear power, that may well include both traditional gridscale and advanced nuclear designs.

In this capacity, Berglöf will have until 2026 to lay the foundation for the expansion approved by the Riksdag (legislature), which "shares the Government’s assessment that fossil-free electricity from nuclear power will also continue to play a role of central importance in the Swedish energy mix. The main reasons for this are an expected greater demand for electricity in combination with the fact that fossil fuels have to be phased out, particularly for climate reasons. Nuclear power also contributes to the stable and predictable functioning of the Swedish power system."

This move is being widely applauded by the nuclear community and the world's eyes are now on Sweden as a leading actor on the global climate stage, moving aggressively towards its decarbonization goals. Given this, we have to believe that part of Carl's new role will be providing guidance and support to other countries seeking to make similar appointments that can help to accelerate their own pathways to decarbonizing their grids with expansions of nuclear power.

Read more at World Nuclear News "Sweden appoints national nuclear power coordinator," January 5, 2024.

(In Swedish) Regeringskansliet, Carl Berglöf utses till nationell kärnkraftssamordnare, 04 januari 2024