private financing Archives - Nucleation Capital

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

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

How Advanced Technologies Revolutionize Nuclear

First private British nuclear power plant