2021 saw a series of inflection points in the nuclear industry, and as calls to combat climate change have increased, nuclear’s role in our clean energy future has become more important than ever. It’s clear that to achieve net zero, we need always-on carbon-free nuclear energy. The past year’s climate commitments, international partnerships, and technological innovations reflect the vast interest in and excitement for nuclear energy.
It’s been a busy year for the industry, and we’re excited to share with you some of the highlights.
Climate Commitments
In August, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released part of its Sixth Assessment Report. It warned that unless there are immediate, rapid, and large-scale reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, we will not be able to limit global warming to where it needs to be. In light of the report’s findings, climate commitments have taken center stage as a pathway to tackling global warming and the climate crisis.
On his first day in office, President Biden rejoined the Paris Agreement as his administration signaled early on that climate was going to be a high priority. Going another step further, at this year’s United Nations (U.N.) Climate Change Conference (COP26), Biden confirmed that the U.S. is committed to net zero on a global scale.
“It must also be a decisive decade for innovation: developing, demonstrating, and commercializing new clean energy technologies by 2030 so that they can be widely deployed in time to meet our 2050 net-zero goals. Clean hydrogen, long-duration energy storage, next-generation renewables and nuclear, carbon capture, sustainable agriculture, and so much more,” he said.
International partnerships
The commitments and statements out of COP26 elevated nuclear’s already integral role in the clean energy transition. Many countries expressed interest in building nuclear, and partnerships between U.S. companies and international customers have blossomed.
Some milestones from the industry in the international space include:
- Westinghouse Electric Company and Energoatom signed a contract to develop the first AP1000 unit in Ukraine.
- NuScale, an American small modular reactor (SMR) developer, and Nuclearelectrica, a Romanian nuclear energy producer, announced an agreement at COP to initiate the deployment of the first SMR in Europe.
- Polish companies Synthos Green Energy and PKN Orlen signed an agreement to establish a joint venture for the deployment of a SMR fleet in Poland, which will commercialize SMR technology, particularly GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy's BWRX-300.
- Ontario Power Generation (OPG) also announced it will work together with GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy to deploy a small modular reactor (SMR) at the Darlington new nuclear site.
Growth and Innovation
Investments in new, advanced technologies will ensure nuclear is the backbone of the energy grid of the future both at home and abroad, and the industry has been seizing opportunities in new avenues— from cryptocurrency to the coal to nuclear transition to space exploration.
Nuclear can provide the clean energy needed to mine cryptocurrency. Oklo, a company building advanced reactors powered by waste from traditional reactors, has announced a 20-year agreement with Compass Mining to provide 100% carbon-free electricity for cryptomining. Energy Harbor announced an agreement with Standard Power to supply carbon-free, nuclear-generated electricity to its bitcoin blockchain mining center in Ohio beginning this month.
As coal plants are retiring across the U.S. in an effort to move away from fossil fuels, the coal to nuclear transition has been garnering interest. Nuclear is uniquely positioned to fill the void created by coal plant closures by utilizing existing infrastructure and talent to ensure that no communities are left behind in the transition to a carbon-free future. Nuclear power plants provide many benefits to the communities where they are built, including lasting jobs for people from a wide range of fields and educational backgrounds, and salaries in the industry are 50 percent higher on average than those of other electricity generation sources.
TerraPower and Pacificorp announced a partnership to advance the Natrium nuclear demonstration project at the site of a coal plant scheduled for retirement in Kemmerer, Wyoming, and other advanced reactor developers and states have expressed interest in this kind of project as well.
There has also been exciting innovation in industries where nuclear has been successful for decades, such as the space industry. Companies such as Zeno Power Systems are developing next-generation radioisotope power systems to power our next level of space exploration—early unmanned missions, earth satellites, and missions to Mars.
We Need Nuclear
While so much innovation has been pioneered in the past year, our 93 existing nuclear reactors in the U.S. have been providing our nation with always-on, 24/7/365 clean energy.
The industry lost a carbon-free champion in New York, Indian Point Energy Center, but in September, Illinois passed clean energy legislation that preserved the state’s nuclear plants. If we want to reduce emissions, we must keep our nuclear plants—which provide more than 50 percent of carbon-free electricity in the U.S.—open.
There have been many successes from all corners of the energy sector this year, and nuclear, partnered with other sources such as wind and solar, has proved to be an undeniable and indispensable part of our clean energy transition.
Stay tuned for a look ahead on what’s to come as we head into a year filled with more investments, commitments, and action towards a net zero future.
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