- DOE investments in advanced nuclear R&D more than $150 million in fiscal 2018
- Second round of 2018 GAIN voucher recipients also announced
- Another $30 million in grants to come in next quarterly award cycle
With dozens of nuclear technology pioneers working to bring their innovative designs to market in the coming decade, the U.S. Department of Energy is making good on Secretary Rick Perry’s promise to support developers’ efforts to “make nuclear cool again.” This week, DOE announced another round of awards, to the tune of nearly $20 million, to help develop nine domestic advanced nuclear technology projects.
DOE is investing in advanced nuclear technologies, because we are looking to the future.
“Nuclear energy is a critical part of our all-of-the-above energy strategy for the country, and early-stage research can help ensure it will continue to be a clean, reliable, and resilient source of electricity,” Perry stated in the announcement.
The awards were made under the DOE Office of Nuclear Energy’s U.S. Industry Opportunities for Advanced Nuclear Technology Development funding opportunity announcement (FOA) and is the second selection made under this solicitation. The first group of awards, amounting to about $60 million, was announced in late April.
The new awards single out innovative proposals that “support various aspects of existing and advanced reactor development” and establish “domestic capabilities for safer, more efficient, clean baseload energy that will support the U.S. economy and energy independence,” DOE said. The awards will allow industry-led teams to participate with federal agencies, public and private laboratories, institutions of higher education, and other domestic entities to advance their projects.
The awards were made under three funding mechanisms:
- First-of-a-Kind Nuclear Demonstration Readiness Projects, for major advanced reactor design development projects with the potential to be deployed by the mid-to-late 2020s: Oregon-based NuScale Power LLC was granted $7 million in DOE funding for a $14.1 million Phase 2 project to advance the licensing and design maturity of its small modular reactor design, to meet a commercial operation date of 2026.
- Advanced Reactor Development Projects, focusing on a broad scope of concepts to improve the capabilities and commercialization potential of advanced reactor designs and technologies: Five projects were granted awards ranging from $400,000 to $6.3 million in DOE funding, with various levels of non-DOE funding. Awardees include Holtec International, Flibe Energy, GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy, the Electric Power Research Institute and Columbia Basin Consulting Group. Huntsville, Alabama-based Flibe Energy is developing a thermal breeder reactor using thorium fuel dissolved in a coolant of molten lithium and beryllium fluoride salts. The company said it is “honored” to have been selected for an award of more than $2.1 million in a $2.6 million project to examine the use of a fluorination technology to extract fission products from the molten salt-fuel mixture.
- Regulatory Assistance Grants, which support design certification and licensing activities for advanced reactor designs: Pittsburgh Technical Institute was awarded $498,000 in DOE funds for a $622,000 project on probabilistic risk assessments for advanced boiling water reactor designs.
DOE also announced more than $500,000 in a second round of 2018 voucher awards under its Gateway for Accelerated Innovation in Nuclear (GAIN) initiative that gives technology developers access to the facilities and expertise of the national laboratory complex. The companies selected in the latest round of rolling voucher awards are ThorCon USA Inc. and Yellowstone Energy.
In recent months, DOE has provided more than $150 million in funding for advanced nuclear research and development (R&D) projects through several different mechanisms, including public-private partnerships; GAIN vouchers; Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy; university and laboratory-based programs like the Nuclear Energy University Program, Nuclear Energy Enabling Technologies and Nuclear Science User Facilities; and for individual projects.
DOE said it intends to award an additional $30 million in advanced nuclear technology development funding in fiscal 2018 funding in the next quarterly award cycle.
“Advanced nuclear technologies have vast near-term potential to change our clean energy future,” NEI Senior Technical Advisor for New Reactor and Advanced Technology Everett Redmond said. “We commend DOE for recognizing the urgency in keeping clean, reliable nuclear energy central to this country’s energy and security strategy, and we congratulate the stellar advanced nuclear technology innovators that have attracted the department’s support to help achieve this vital goal.”