Aline Des Cloizeaux is currently serving as the Nuclear Power division Director at the IAEA, based in Vienna, Austria.
Amazon has announced a signed agreement with Dominion Energy in Virginia to explore the development and construction of one or more small modular nuclear reactors to use to provide clean power to Amazon Web Services data centers. It is anticipated that Dominion will contract with X-energy to host X-energy's new high-temperature gas reactor at Dominion’s North Anna nuclear power station. This is intended to increase access to clean power for AWS, Amazon’s cloud computing subsidiary, which has escalating energy needs as it expands its services into generative AI. The agreement is also a part of Amazon’s path to net-zero carbon emissions.
Amazon Web Services has agreed to invest more than $500 million into advanced nuclear power, through three related projects, that will result in as much as 600 MW of new power generation at locations from Virginia to Washington state. In the process, Amazon is partnering with Dominion Energy, Energy Northwest and X-Energy to explore the development of an X-energy small modular nuclear reactor, or SMR, near Dominion’s existing North Anna nuclear power station.
Amazon, together with Energy Northwest, a consortium of 29 public utility districts and municipalities across Washington, will help fund the deployment of four reactors developed by X-energy totalling approximately 320 MW of new electricity generation. Additionally, Amazon also is making an equity investment into X-energy as part of an approximately $500 million fundraising round announced today by the nuclear technology company and they've signed a separate memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Dominion Energy “to explore innovative new development structures that would help advance potential [SMR] nuclear development in Virginia.”
[Read more at the sources listed below.]
Sources
UtilityDive: Amazon announces small modular reactor deals with Dominion, X-energy, Energy Northwest, by Brian Martucci, Oct. 16, 2024
CNBC: Amazon goes nuclear, to invest more than $500 million to develop small modular reactors, by Diana Olick, Oct. 16, 2024.
PR Newswire: Dominion Energy and Amazon to explore advancement of Small Modular Reactor (SMR) nuclear development in Virginia, Oct. 16, 2024.
Published by Nucleation Capital in Advanced Nuclear, Advanced Nuclear Customers, Corporate decarbonization, Energy transition, LINKS, Nuclear financing, Nuclear innovation, Public companies
Google's agreement to purchase energy from advanced nuclear reactors to be built by Kairos Power was, in almost every way, earth-shattering. This deal puts advanced nuclear on the energy "leaderboard" for the first time and sends an exceptionally powerful message out into the world—that the tech hyperscalers, a group of extremely sophisticated companies committed to decarbonization—are ready to commit large sums to obtain clean and reliable power from advanced nuclear energy providers. This will inform a whole host of other actors and force them to re-assess their energy options.
To better understand Google's reasoning for this agreement, we turn to the blog post written by Michael Terrell, Googles' Senior Director for Energy and Climate. He confirms right away, that Google's decision to sign the "world's first corporate agreement to purchase nuclear energy from multiple small modular reactors" is intended to "accelerate the clean energy transition across the U.S."
Google is building upon a history of pioneering corporate efforts to accelerate clean energy solutions, which started with agreements to purchase renewable electricity over a decade ago. Those purchase agreements have enabled Google to make claims of powering their operations with "renewable" energy but the reality is that for the last decade, Google's power was pulled from the grid like everyone else's and they could not access carbon-free power on a 24/7 basis. This disturbed them, because they knew that their claims were premised on fancy accounting, not reality, and due to the fungibility of electrons, their actual energy streams remained as dirty as eveyone else's.
Google now takes its first true step into truly managing its carbon emissions with this agreement to support Kairos Power's introduction of its advanced nuclear power system. This is a long-term agreement that enables Kairos to target building multiple initial units by 2030, followed by additional units by 2035. The agreement will enable the construction of up to 500 MW of 24/7 carbon-free power to a number of communities, which indicates that Google is probably planning to site these new reactors in more than one location, possibly co-located with newly-built data centers being planned to meet growing power demands from AI.
Terrell believes that this agreement, to put Google's purchasing heft in accelerating deployments of the next generation of advanced clean technologies, is important for two reasons:
- The grid needs new electricity sources to support AI technologies that are powering major scientific advances, improving services for businesses and customers, and driving national competitiveness and economic growth. This agreement helps accelerate a new technology to meet energy needs cleanly and reliably, and unlock the full potential of AI for everyone.
- Nuclear solutions offer a clean, round-the-clock power source that can help us reliably meet electricity demands with carbon-free energy every hour of every day. Advancing these power sources in close partnership with supportive local communities will rapidly drive the decarbonization of electricity grids around the world.
In other words, there is growing 24/7 energy demand and growing urgency to eliminate emissions and renewables are not up to the job. Terrell doesn't say that directly but it seems fairly clear that they recognize that they cannot run a rapidly growing 24/7 data center business with intermittent energy sources, even with fancy accounting.
While we don't get a lot of the financial details of this new agreement, whether they will be investing in Kairos or just helping to finance Kairos' journey through their first of a kind (F.O.A.K) build and out into their "nth of a kind" (N.O.A.K) build, Google's alignment of it efforts to develop and commercialize advanced clean electricity technologies behind Kairos is a formidable combination that promises to help Kairos overcome the remaining barriers for commercialization of its technology.
(From the DOE's Advanced Nuclear LiftOff Report.)
Google's deal with Kairos provides what many experts and the DOE see as a necessary ingredient to break the chicken and egg conundrum: an “orderbook” of reactors. This speeds up Kairos' ability to produce its novel reactors in the quantity necessary to lower costs and bring Kairos Power’s technology to market more quickly. Without out, FOAK pricing can be prohibitive to getting orders. Google, with virtually no other options, has bravely stepped to help scale what is likely to be the first of many advanced nuclear technologies coming to market.
This announcement further inflects the advanced nuclear sector and confirms what we have known all along: both traditional and next-generation nuclear technologies are necessary for us to reach 100% clean power and we'll need a very large and very diverse quantity of new reactors being produced and deployed at scale to fully meet all types of growing energy needs and to shift all demand from fossil fuels to clean energy sources.
Resources
_______________
Goggle Blog: New nuclear clean energy agreement with Kairos Power, by Michael Terrell, Oct. 14, 2024
Google Sustainability Report: The Corporate Role in Accelerating Advanced Clean Electricity Technologies, Sept. 2023.
Department of Energy: Pathways to Commercial Liftoff: Advanced Nuclear Commercial LiftOff
Published by Nucleation Capital in Advanced Nuclear, Advanced Nuclear Customers, Brilliant thinkers, Corporate decarbonization, Energy transition, LINKS, Nuclear innovation, Public companies, US technological leadership
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
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
The ADVANCE Act, included in the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) by the Senate, was passed by the Senate in an 86-11 bipartisan vote. The NDAA now must be reconciled with the version narrowly passed by the House on July 14th, which contains several controversial GOP amendments. Previously, the ADVANCE Act was approved by a bipartisan 16-3 vote of the Environment and Public Works Committee in May.
Senators Shelley Moore Capito (R., W.Va.), Tom Carper (D., Del.), and Sheldon Whitehouse (D., R.I.) were the bipartisan group of sponsors who introduced the Accelerating Deployment of Versatile, Advanced Nuclear for Clean Energy (ADVANCE) Act back in April of this year. Its purpose is to support the preservation, development, and deployment of nuclear energy technologies in the United States.
The legislation was widely welcomed by experts, including the respected Clean Air Task Force, as an effort to strengthen the U.S. nuclear energy sector by creating a supportive policy environment where nuclear energy can expedite the clean energy transition and promote global energy security.
Included in the bill are much needed measures that enhance processes at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, especially the review and approvals of next-gen nuclear reactors, improve the prospects for coal to nuclear projects, and streamline civil nuclear exports, all which will help manage climate change and provide reliable, 24/7, carbon-free energy.
In the words of Shelley Moore Capito, the passage of the ADVANCE Act brings us "one step closer to reestablishing America's preeminence as the global leader in nuclear energy in the 21st century. Not only does our legislation strengthen our national and energy security, it expands a clean, reliable power source that should remain a major part of our future energy mix. The ADVANCE Act achieves these shared goals by making the nuclear licensing process more affordable, predictable, and efficient; creating pathways to repurpose former industrial sites for nuclear reactors in the future; and providing the Nuclear Regulatory Commission the resources needed to help fulfill its mission."
“The complexity of achieving economy-wide decarbonization requires a diverse set of solutions, and nuclear energy has an important role to play,” said Evan Chapman, U.S. Federal Policy Director at Clean Air Task Force. “The bipartisan ADVANCE Act would build on action taken through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and the Inflation Reduction Act to preserve and expand the United States’ nuclear energy capacity. Doing so would help meet growing energy demand while moving the U.S. closer to achieving its climate goals. It’s an exciting step forward and we stand ready to work with Congress to make this legislation as strong as possible.”
See Nuclear Newswire's "Senate okays defense bill with measure boosting U.S. nuclear sector, to learn more about the ADVANCE Act. Also see the Clean Air Task Force's news about the introduction of the ADVANCE Act from April 5, 2023.
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
Valerie Gardner, founder and managing partner of Nucleation Capital, and Dr. Rachel Slaybaugh, a partner at DCVC, presented remarks on the topic of "Procuring Investments for Commercialization" in the concluding session of ARPA-E's Fission Summit covering Technology to Market, held in Hollywood, California, April 18-20, 2023.
This was the 2023 Annual Fission Program Review Meeting being held as a showcase of all of the groups funded by ARPA-E for cutting edge research and development of new fission technologies and materials.
Day 1 of the program covered the CURIE and OnWARDS Programs provided an opportunity for the grantees to do project "lightening talks," and covered topics including NRC Engagement, Technology-to-Market preparedness, Industry Perspectives on Reprocessing and Legal Considerations. There were also presentations from TerraPower, GE Global Research, the IDNL, Deep Isolation, Brigham Young University and Citrine Informatics.
Day 2 of the program covered Processing Technologies, Advanced Reactor Waste Disposal, Materials, Microreactors and Enabling Technologies. In addition to remarks from Jon Carmack, Danny Cunningham,, Jenifer Shafer adn Bob Ledoux, there were a range of panels that included speakers from Dow Chemical, EPRI, Southern Company and Westinghouse. The CURIE, ONWARDS, GEMINA, MEITNER AND OPEN Program grantees also gave more lightening talks.
On the third and final day of the event, the discussion shifted to commercialization and raising capital. After Danny Cunningham of ARPA-E gave a quick overview of "How to Commercialize an Idea, John Bistline of EPRI covered a view of the Energy Market in Transition. Following this, Valerie and Rachel discussed how ventures procure investments from venture capital. They presented an overview of how venture capital works and the range of financing prospects that young companies could expect. In a final hat tip to innovation, Valerie described how innovation in the finance and venture fields was enabling a range of non-traditional funds to enter the market with missions to fund high-risk innovation technologies such as advanced nuclear. To view Valerie's slides for the presentation, click the image below.
Learn more about ARPA-E's Funding Programs, please see this link.
Published by Valerie Gardner in Advanced Nuclear, Brilliant thinkers, Climate policy, Energy abundance, Future of Energy, Government support, History Timeline, History-making, Investor activity, NEWS, Nuclear competitiveness, Nuclear financing, Nuclear innovation, Nucleation communications, Politicians supporting nuclear, Pro-nuclear campaign, Solving climate, US technological leadership, Zero emission energy
Opinion authors Andrew Fillat and Henry Miller are highly critical of how politicians have handled addressing climate change. Whether it is a lack of critical thinking among politician or whether it is a highly calculated view of the lack of critical thinking among their environmental supporters is not entirely clear but "wishful thinking and flawed assumptions" do clear abound within the spheres setting policy in places like California, New York and elsewhere.
Key among the authors' multitude of complaints, what they call the single greatest sin is the "demonization of nuclear power, including the shutdown of existing nuclear plants that remain serviceable." We could not agree more. So, while this opinion piece levies some harsh judgements for politicians and climate activists, these pronouncements are paired with some really important metrics that more people should be aware of.
The authors seem to have culled their collection of numbers from Jacopo Buongiorno of MIT, a renowned nuclear engineering professor and author of many important research papers about nuclear energy—unfortunately without linking to their sources. Professor Buongiorno has studied the life-cycle of power plants of all kinds, from mining and construction to decommissioning and disposal of waste and ultimately buildings. We have seen many of his reports and are delighted to find these numbers pulled out for easy reference.
According to the authors, Buongiorno has found that:
-
- the lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions for nuclear are 1/700th those of coal
1/400th of gas, and one-fourth of solar - Nuclear requires 1/2,000th as much land as wind and around 1/400th as much as solar
- For any given power output, the amount of raw material used to build a nuclear plant is a small fraction of an equivalent solar or wind farm.
- Although nuclear waste is obviously more difficult to dispose of, its volume is 1/10,000th that of solar and 1/500th of wind (this includes abandoned infrastructure and all the toxic substances that end up in landfills.)
- One person’s lifetime use of nuclear power would produce about a half-ounce of waste.
- Even including the Chernobyl disaster, human mortality from coal is 2,000 to 3,000 times that of nuclear, while oil claims 400 times as many lives.
- the lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions for nuclear are 1/700th those of coal
Read this opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal's Nuclear Power Is the Best Climate-Change Solution by Far, by Andrew I. Fillat and Henry I. Miller, published November 4, 2021.
Published by Nucleation Capital in Advanced Nuclear, Carbon emissions, Climate change, Future of Energy, Land Use by Energy, LINKS, Nuclear innovation, Reduced ecosystem impacts, Solving climate, Zero emission energy
French President Emmanuel Macron announced that France will "pour 30 billion euros, or $34.6 billion, over the next five years into nuclear reactors, semiconductor plants and other strategic investments aimed at revitalizing and decarbonizing the nation’s industry," according to Liz Alderman in France to invest in small nuclear reactors and green energy project, printed in the New York Times. The investment is intended to position France as a global leader in advanced nuclear and green hydrogen production, while also serving to stimulate the economy in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.
France already has a cleaner electric grid than nearly any other major nation, with 70 percent of its electricity generated by clean nuclear and another 20 percent coming from an assortment of other clean energy sources. Yet Macron recognizes the value of investing in the technologies needed to more fully decarbonize the entire world as a way to renew French industry, while pushing to decarbonize the rest of the French economy.
France has few natural resources for powering itself and chose back in the 70s and 80s to take smart steps to protect itself from the geopolitical vagarities of fossil fuels, choosing to build both nuclear power plants as well as a world-class nuclear power industry. This announcement follows in those wise footsteps, as France seeks to improve its economic competitiveness, its claim on critical new technologies and help lead the world in the fight against climate change. In this regard, France is head and shoulders above the U.S. and virtually every other country in terms of its embrace of science and technology, free from ideology.
Read more in the New York Time's France to invest in small nuclear reactors and green energy project, by Liz Alderman, published October 12, 2021.
Published by Nucleation Capital in Advanced Nuclear, Carbon emissions, Climate change, Climate policy, Future of Energy, History Timeline, International support for nuclear, LINKS, Nuclear innovation, Politicians supporting nuclear
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