A First-Ever Construction Permit Received by Kairos Power

Kairos Power is the recipient of the first ever Nuclear Regulatory Commission-approved Construction Permit Application (CPA) for a Gen IV (non-light water) Reactor Design. Kairos is now able to commence building the Hermes molten salt-cooled demonstration reactor in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, the first advanced nuclear design approved for construction in the US in more than 50 years.

According to World Nuclear News, Kairos has been in pre-application engagement with the NRC since 2018 and submitted the CPA in late 2021 and had it accepted by the NRC in November 2021. In October, the NRC held a mandatory hearing for the CPA, with senior Kairos officials in attendance (in a publicly available meeting that any interested party can attend via Zoom) which received unanimous support from the Commissioners, not least because, under Dr. Per Peterson, the company has done an amazing job of planning a series of iterative builds, which sequentially and increasingly de-risk the design.

The NRC in action at Kairos' mandatory meeting. Image courtesy of Nucleation Capital.

Kairos in attendance at the NRC meeting. Image courtsey of Nucleation Capital

According to World Nuclear News, Kairos has been in pre-application engagement with the NRC since 2018 and submitted the CPA in late 2021 and had it accepted by the NRC in November 2021. In October, the NRC held a mandatory hearing for the CPA, with senior Kairos officials in attendance (in a publicly available meeting that any interested party can attend via Zoom) which received unanimous support from the Commissioners, not least because, under Dr. Per Peterson, the company has done an amazing job of planning a series of iterative builds, which sequentially and increasingly de-risk the design.

Hermes is the first step in this graduated process and is anticipated to be a 35 MW (thermal) non-power iteration of the future fluoride salt-cooled high temperature reactor, the KP-HFR. Kairos also have a CPA pending for its next iteration, called Hermes 2, which is expected to be a 2-unit demonstration plant that, after learnings have been incorporated, would replicate the complete architecture of the future commercial plants, which the company expects to start building in the early 2030s.

According to Katy Huff, the US Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy, the NRC's approval is a "huge milestone" for the energy sector and, we'll add, for our ability to address climate change. If nothing else, the NRC is showing that it is serious about providing a path forward for Gen IV reactors.

Read more at the World Nuclear News in "NRC approves Hermes construction permit," December 13, 2023.

Learn more about Kairos Power at the company's website and at Atomic Insights, our companion blog and podcast series, where Rod Adams interviews Per Peterson, the Chief Nuclear Officer of Kairos in Atomic Show #288 – Per Peterson, CNO, Kairos Power.

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

September 13, 2022

DOE finds that 80% of US coal plants could be converted to nuclear

According to a new DOE report, hundreds of coal plant sites could be suitable for conversion from coal to nuclear energy in an economically-viable way. In fact, as much as 80% of qualifying retired and operating coal plants appear to have the capacity to undergo what the report calls the "Coal-to-Nuclear" (C2N) transition. (Note: we have previously reported on efforts to develop standardized and efficient processes for this conversion to happen quickly.)

Amy Roma, an attorney with Logan Hovells writes:

"The 127-page DOE report concludes that hundreds of United States coal power plant sites could be converted to nuclear power plant sites, adding new jobs, increasing economic benefit, and significantly improving environmental conditions. As part of the study contained in the report, the research team examined over 400 retired and operating coal plants based on a set of ten screening parameters, including population density, distance from seismic fault lines, flooding potential, and nearby wetlands, to determine if the sites could safely host a nuclear power plant. After screening, the research team identified 157 retired coal plants and 237 operating plants as potential candidates for a coal-to-nuclear transition. The report determined that 80% of those potential sites, with over 250 GW of generating capacity, are suitable for hosting advanced nuclear power plants, and that while these nuclear power plants vary in size and type, they could be deployed to match the size of the site being converted. See DOE Report at pp. 2, 22, 71."

According to the DOE's Investigating Benefits and Challenges of Converting Retiring Coal Plants into Nuclear Plants report, a coal-to-nuclear transition could increase nuke capacity in the U.S. to more than 350 GW.

Power Magazine reports that, depending on the technology used, nuclear overnight costs of capital could decrease by 15% to 35% when compared to a greenfield construction project, through the reuse of infrastructure from the coal facility.

In a case study replacing a large 1200 MW coal plant with NuScale’s 924 MWe of nuclear capacity, the study teams found regional economic activity could increase by as much as $275 million and add 650 new, permanent jobs to the region analyzed. Nuclear can have a lower capacity size because it runs at a higher capacity factors than coal power plants.

In general, DOE says the occupations that would see the largest gains from a coal-to-nuclear transition include nuclear engineers, security guards, and nuclear technicians. Nuke plants could also benefit from preserving the existing experienced workforce in communities around retiring coal plants sites.

Read more at Reuters: About 80% of U.S. coal plant sites suitable to host nuclear reactors -U.S. DOE report, published September 13, 2022. Power Magazine, "DOE study finds hundreds of U.S. coal plants could convert to nuclear," by Kevin Clark, published September 14, 2022. And Hogan Lovell's Engage, with analysis by Amy Roma, entitled "New DOE Report shows former coal plants can support new nuclear plants and a just energy transition," published September 20, 2022.

Published by Nucleation Capital in Advanced Nuclear, Carbon emissions, Climate change, Construction costs, Energy abundance, Fossil fuels, Future of Energy, Government support, History Timeline, History-making, Land Use by Energy, LINKS, Nuclear innovation, Reduced ecosystem impacts, Solving climate, Zero emission energy

August 10, 2022

Thorium Molten Salt prospects are good

Chinese teams have designed and built and are now commissioning an experimental thorium-powered molten salt reactor. This is exciting news for those who have long advocated for thorium-based energy. It is also a sad and poignant moment for the US's atomic energy legacy, that China is smart enough to do what we will not.

The very first prototype molten-salt reactor (MSR) was developed and tested by the United States in the 1960s and 70s at the Oak Ridge National Laboratories under the direction of Alvin Weinberg. The design tested the use of a thorium-fluoride salt liquid which used Thorium 232 as the fertile material and Uranium 233 as the fissile fuel. This prototype experiment was known as the MSRE (Molten-Salt Reactor Experiment) and it operated successfully for almost five years before it was discontinued for a range of mostly political reasons.

According to the Thorium Energy Alliance, a non-profit educational group working to preserve the history of molten-salt development in the US and to lay the foundation for the use of thorium energy in the future, Interest in thorium has remained strong. The reason is simple: Liquid-Fluoride Thorium Reactor (LFTR) holds significant technical, economic and safety advantages over traditional nuclear power plants.

By dissolving the uranium and thorium into salts of lithium and beryllium kept hot enough to stay liquid, you do not need to produce fuel rods or pellets, which saves considerable costs. Plus, the liquid salts are so chemically stable, they are virtually imperious to damage from the high temperature, neutrons or radiation, that they will not corrode the vessels that contain them. Although thorium is 4 times more abundant than uranium, one ton of thorium can produce as much energy as 200 tons of uranium or the equivalent of 3.5 million tons of coal. This means that with greater energy potential and fewer production costs, a LFTR could be developed at a fraction of the cost of a traditional nuclear reactor, while also being significantly safer.

Unfortunately, under the current NRC regulator (which has only ever licensed light water reactors), U.S. developers have been unable to license even prototypes of next-generation LFTRs, so now, the lead in this very promising technology has moved to China. According to WNN, construction of an experimental 2 MW thermal Molten-Salt Reactor began in September 2018 in Wuwei City, in the Gansu province of China and was reportedly completed in August 2021. That would mean this experimental plant took just three years to build. It has now been reviewed and approved for commissioning by the Chinese Ministry of Ecology and Environment.

[Aside: China clearly has a much better understanding of the critical role that nuclear power plays in protecting the environment than the US does, because it has new nuclear reactors approved by its "Ministry of Ecology and Environment." If the US were to rename the Nuclear Regulatory Commission the Commission on Regulation of Energy and Ecology, it might actually do its job better.]

UPDATE: The US NRC accepted a construction permit application from Abilene Christian University (ACU) to build a molten salt research reactor (MSRR) on Nov. 18, 2022. In a letter dated Dec. 16, 2022, the NRC estimates that the date that the permit review will be complete is in May 2024.

Read more at World Nuclear News: Chinese molten-salt reactor cleared for start up, published August 9, 2022. To learn more about thorium, please visit the Thorium Energy Alliance website where you ca browse their extensive Media Library.

June 1, 2016

Molten salt, not new but renewed

The Molten Salt Reactor Experiment (MSRE) achieved criticality on June 1, 1965, having taken about two years and a total of $80 million to build. In 1968, it became the first reactor to run on Uranium-233 and proved both that U-233 could act as a fuel source and also that the molten salt liquid fuel could act both as a carrier/energy container and as a coolant. During an event to introduce the MSRE, Alvin Weinberg pointed to barrels near an assembled crowd containing the salts and fuel that had no radiologocial protection—as none was needed.

The MSRE logged more than 13,000 hours at full power and many more at partial power levels—although it is not clear that the power was ever connected to an electric grid—but was eventually shut down in 1969 and the molten salt program itself in 1973, when the political decision was made by the Atomic Energy Commission to "focus on other designs."

Today, governments and industry are once again reviewing the achievements of the MRSE and re-evaluating whether molten salt technology provides some of the answers to the global energy challenge that we face. There are numerous next-generation groups working on variations on the MSRE design for deployment in the coming decade.

Read more in the ORNL Review: "Time Warp: Molten Salt Reactor Experiment—Alvin Weinberg's magnum opus" and at Energy from Thorium: MSRE 50th Anniversary" by Kirk Sorenson.

Published by Nucleation Capital in Advanced Nuclear, Construction costs, Future of Energy, Government support, LINKS, Nuclear R&D, US competitiveness