Stimulus deal provides $11 billion in new funding for nuclear

Congress has moved to fund clean energy—including $11 billion for nuclear energy and $6 billion for CCUS—and phase out a class of potent planet-warming chemicals and provide billions of dollars for renewable energy and efforts to suck carbon from the atmosphere as part of the $900 billion coronavirus relief package.

The bill also authorizes $2.9 billion for the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-e), a program that funds high-risk, high-reward research and that Trump has sought to eliminate multiple times.

The increased funding is expected to make emerging clean-energy technology cheaper and more widespread. This is especially significant for ideas that have proved effective but are struggling to make the jump to commercial viability.

“This is an opportunity to not only make significant advances in climate action and reducing HFCs, but to help maintain leadership of U.S. technology and our competitiveness in that global market,” said Marty Durbin, an energy lobbyist at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the largest corporate lobbying group in Washington.

Read more in the The Washington Post: "Stimulus deal includes raft of provisions to fight climate change."

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September 15, 2020

National Defense Implcations for Nuclear Energy Innovations

Atlantic Council: Innovation in Nuclear Energy Technologies: Implications for US National Defense

As the next generation of nuclear reactors is being developed, the US Department of Defense (DOD) has the potential to play a significant role in providing the funding required to bring these new reactors to demonstration and, ultimately, commercialization. Possible US military applications of advanced reactors—especially micro nuclear reactors (MNRs)—include deployment to remote bases that are challenging to supply with fuel; power systems for directed-energy weapons; and nuclear energy systems for space flight and off-world bases.

The next generation of civilian nuclear technologies—especially small modular reactors (SMRs) and micro nuclear reactors (MNRs)—can advance the US national security mission by providing reliable, resilient power of certain military installations; powering advanced weapons systems; reinvigorating the nuclear supply chain; and supporting US nonproliferation goals, not to mention help decarbonize the energy grid and industrial energy usage. US government support for advanced nuclear technologies will further US national security goals in a new era of great power politics by enhancing US warfighting capabilities. DOD procurement of SMRs and MNRs could help bring the new reactor types to demonstration and commercialization, which would bolster US efforts to compete against Russian and Chinese international civil nuclear exports.

Read the Atlantic Council's Global Energy Center Issue Brief for September 2020 entitled "Innovation in Nuclear Energy Technologies:Implications for US National Defense," by DR. ROBERT F. ICHORD, JR. AND DR. JENNIFER T. GORDON.

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May 18, 2020

AOC “leaves the door open” to nuclear

During the 2020 primary debate for New York's 14th district, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez reiterated her position from the previous May, that the Green New Deal leaves the door open to nuclear.

“You bring up an important element of our energy mix, which is nuclear. And this is absolutely a critical part of this conversation. So, one thing that I would just like to clarify, the Green New Deal does leave the door open to nuclear. You are right in that we name renewables like wind and solar specifically, but the door is open to nuclear. But we also have to make sure that community input and the technology is vetted but I do believe there's an open door there.

See Third Way's tweet on May 19, 2020, following the NY-14 primary debate, and watch Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's answer to a question about nuclear from a constituent here.

See previous post from May 2019 here.

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