The next generation of nuclear plants is upon us, thanks to the work of innovative developers and assistance from public-private partnerships.
Today, the U.S. Department of Energy issued a funding opportunity announcement for the Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program. This program will create partnerships between DOE and private industry and provide funding to develop and build advanced reactors.
The announcement provides three separate pathways for funding:
- The first is for demonstrations that will support licensing and construction of two reactors that aim to be operating about seven years after the awards are given.
- The second pathway will provide funding to help other developers mature their technology so that it is better prepared for deployment (known as the “risk-reduction pathway”). DOE will fund up to five designs that have the potential to be operational about five years after those chosen for the first pathway.
- The third pathway—known as Advanced Reactor Concepts 2020—will provide awards to developers whose designs may be further from deployment and more conceptual. DOE will fund up to two designs that have the potential to be demonstrated in the 2035 timeframe.
This program will be a critical step toward making advanced reactors—and the carbon-free future they represent—a reality. Nuclear energy is the largest provider of zero-emission electricity in the United States, and both current nuclear plants and the next generation of reactors will be an important part of reaching any carbon reduction or climate goals.
In the next 10 years it is likely that we will see multiple new reactors constructed through private investment and public-private partnerships.
NuScale Power LLC is expected to receive the first small modular reactor design certification from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission later this year; they are also working with Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems to deploy the reactor on the Idaho National Laboratory site in the mid-2020s. Additionally, this year, Oklo Inc. submitted an application to the NRC for their Aurora micro-reactor, making it the first license application for a an advanced reactor. And DOE’s Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program will support building two new reactors. In addition, in the next couple of years, Georgia Power will complete the state-of-the-art AP-1000 reactors at Plant Vogtle.
With all of this work going on, the 2020s will be a decade of nuclear innovation that will transform how we power our way of life. Once built, the advanced reactors being designed today will vary in size from our current reactors and may be used for additional purposes such as desalination, producing steam for industrial uses, and hydrogen generation for industrial and transportation needs.
The most important thing that advanced reactors offer, though, is reliable, carbon-free energy. With continued private investment and public-private partnerships, these new designs will play a critical role in reducing carbon emissions for generations to come.
