Support for nuclear power soars

Grist writes: "US support for nuclear power soars to highest level in a decade: As the country looks to decarbonize, nuclear’s popularity continues to climb." This is what Akielly Hu, Grist's News and Politics Fellow, reports following the release by Gallup of a survey that found that 55 percent of US adults support the use of nuclear power. This total is up four percentage points in a year, and "reflects the highest level of public support for nuclear energy use in electricity since 2012."

Among other findings, the survey found that Republicans are more likely to favor nuclear energy than Democrats, which partisan divide is particularly visible at the state level, with more pro-nuclear policies adopted in Republican-controlled states than left-leaning ones. Nevertheless, support for nuclear energy by Democratic is also on the rise, in part due to advances in nuclear technologies and new federal climate laws that clarify the fact that nuclear power is carbon-free energy and can help in efforts to solve climate change.

The Biden administration has identified nuclear energy as a key climate solution to achieve grid stability in a net-zero future. The administration is pushing for the deployment of advanced nuclear reactor models that improve on the safety and efficiency of traditional reactor designs. These designs will all be far more consistent and reliable than wind and solar energy, which vary depending on the weather. The broader shift in public opinion and, in particular, Democratic opinion toward nuclear energy, is at least partially a function of strong pronuclear leadership coming from the Biden Administration and the DOE under Secretary Jennifer Granholm.

Read more at Grist, US support for nuclear power soars to highest level in a decade, by Akielly Hu, May 9, 2023.

February 15, 2023

Energy Insiders Plan for More Nuclear

RTO Insider has reported on the discussion at the NARUC meeting in mid-February, in which the Tennessee Valley Authority CEO, Jeff Lyash, made the case for his need for nuclear energy to achieve his goals of 80% carbon-free generation by 2035 and net-zero by 2050.

The TVA already has an early has an early site permit from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to build its first SMR at Clinch River. But Lyash is not interested in building one reactor. “In order for us to be successful, TVA needs something on the order of 20 reactors over that period of time," Lyash remarked to those gathered at the National Associate of Regulatory Utility Commissioners Winter Policy summit in Washington, D.C.

TVA, a federally-owned utility, will still need a construction permit for the 300 MW GE Hitachi MWRX-300 SMR that it is planning to build but what Lyash really needs is for the construction to reach "nth-of-a-kind costs, supply chain, workforce, project execution" to make constructing a portfolio of 20 or more reactors and slam dunk.

The rising need for nuclear power as a critical technology to enable full decarbonization was a major theme of the NARUC conference. As such, the formation of a new initiative, the Advanced Nuclear State Collaborative, to bring together members of NARUC and the National Association of State Energy Officials was announced by David Wright, an NRC commissioner, and Tricia Pridemore, chair of the Georgia Public Service Commission. The initiative, sponsored by the Department of Energy, will provide technical assistance and expertise for states deploying or considering new nuclear projects, Commissioner Pridemore said.

The new collaborative is the response to growing interest in nuclear by energy insiders. In at least 20 states, “public service commissions and state energy offices are engaged in feasibility studies for advanced nuclear reactor site selection, strategies to reduce regulatory and policy barriers to new nuclear, and other activities to pave the way for advanced reactors,” Commissioner Pridemore said.

With the two new AP1000 reactors at Vogtle just starting to come online, one might think that the troubled Southern Co. experience of building them at more than double the original cost and six years delayed might put a damper on interest in building more nuclear. In fact, Lyash and LPO Director, Jigar Shah, agreed that Vogtle showed that "America is deciding to do big things."

As a result of completing these AP1000s, there are now 13,000 trained men and women with experience in building new power plants. They will next be deployed in building the next AP1000s in Poland, which selected the Westinghouse AP1000 in part because the Vogtle plant got done, produced valuable lessons, and there is current knowhow for building it.

Now, this experience is available to benefit all new buyers, de-risk new builds and improve the financial and public trust in the technology. If more customers step up, whether for the AP1000 or other new designs, the valuable lessons learned can actually benefit the U.S., other nations and our decarbonization efforts and help keep nuclear power competitive in general.

In fact, according to Lyash, nuclear power plants are "highly competitive." And he should know because nuclear generates 42% of TVA's power supply. So while nuclear plants require large up-front capital expenditure, "they have a tremendously long and beneficial life," per Lyash. "They also deliver all the attributes to a power system that you need—voltage, frequency and maneuverability." The key need going forward: Buidling them on time and on budget.

Read more at RTO Insider, Making the Case for Nuclear at NARUC, by K. Kaufman, Feb 15, 2023.

December 30, 2022

Net Zero Needs Nuclear

"Rather quietly, a new age of atomic energy may be approaching. Splitting atoms may not be as exciting as fusing them, or as modish as wind and solar projects. Yet old-fashioned fission is poised to make a comeback thanks to innovative new reactor designs. The world will be better for this revolution — if policymakers allow it."

So begins an online article in the Washington Post with the unflinching title "Net Zero Isn't Possible Without Nuclear." This piece is described as "Analysis by The Editors | Bloomberg."

[Aside: This is an amazing piece of writing—which we entirely agree with and truly admire—but it is all highly unusual. Newspapers typically do not publish "analysis." Also, newspapers typically will not publish opinion pieces from "The Editors" of other organizations. Yet, here it is, Bloomberg Editors (might that include Michael Bloomberg?) have effectively placed an OpEd in the WaPo on the last business day of the year that is, we suspect, going to serve as the exclamation mark for the year. End aside.]

This piece packs a punch. It's not too long. It's not too technical. It just makes the case that we need tons more nuclear energy if we hope to reduce emissions and yet our progress in that direction is blocked by a Nuclear Regulatory Commission that is effectively disfunctional and unable to understand relative risks.

Sadly, we agree. The NRC as it is now, is not well-suited for supporting the success of an innovative nuclear tech sector. Today's NRC could remain the regulator for the traditional industry, which is used to slow and plodding and isn't building all that much. But what the Advanced Nuclear sector needs is a new, more innovative regulatory body which operates at the pace of technology and which can be empowered to use different methods and objectives to provide suitable guidelines and support for innovators but which doesn't stop them from innovating and commercializing good designs, simply because those designs haven't been tested for decades. This group should be empowered to use probabilistic risk assessments, advanced technologies, modeling and even AI to help launch the advanced nuclear sector and ensure that we get the commercial reactor designs we need to prevent climate change from destroying humanity.

The NRC, as it exists now, does not recognize that climate change is barreling down on the world with an absolute certainty, if we don't eliminate emissions. For the sake of zeroing out risks so miniscule that they don't pose a realistic threat, the NRC is standing in the way of important, planet-saving climate solutions.

Read more at the Washington Post, "Net Zero Isn't Possible Without Nuclear," by The Editors, Bloomberg, December 30, 2022.

Published by Nucleation Capital in Advanced Nuclear, Brilliant thinkers, Energy abundance, Future of Energy, History-making, Investor activity, LINKS, Nuclear competitiveness, Nuclear innovation, Nuclear R&D, Politicians supporting nuclear, Private companies, Solving climate, US technological leadership, Zero emission energy