As the urgency to reduce carbon emissions grows, investment in nuclear technologies is more important than ever. Nuclear is our largest source of carbon-free, always-on energy, and new nuclear technologies are poised to enable our electrical grid to transition to clean energy.
Advanced nuclear technologies build upon years of industry experience powering our homes without emitting greenhouse gases. In fact, America’s 93 nuclear plants produce enough electricity to power 75 million homes.
New designs are making reactor designs smaller and more versatile. NEI’s Hilary Lane shares details about NEI’s work establishing construction best practices (CBP’s) for new nuclear power projects.
What constitutes a new nuclear project?
A new nuclear project has a lifecycle with multiple steps, including developing the design, licensing through the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), manufacturing and construction. The concept of “Phase Gates” provides investors, executives, stakeholders, and the project team with a road map and clear criteria for when and how a project should progress to the next phase.
What are the best practices when it comes to constructing a first of a kind (FOAK) nuclear project?
NEI released a report in 2020 that highlights 59 key CBPs including guidance on collaboration, leadership, and project management. These best practices define “what” is needed for a successful new build.
To provide clarity on “how” to achieve these best practices, NEI began the development of a series of implementation guides. As an example, of those 59 CBPs, 8 are specific to establishing design maturity and realistic cost and schedule baselines, which is imperative for a successful nuclear construction project. To tackle these critical concepts, NEI and the industry worked closely together to develop the first implementation guidance report. A key takeaway is that cost and schedule accuracy is dependent on the maturity of design. This guidance can be applied to any type of new reactor design, and NEI is working on other implementation guides for the remaining best practices.
How can the original 2020 report and new implementation guide be used together to oversee a new nuclear project from the “Initiation” phase to the “Execution” phase?
The 2020 report includes 10 case studies on how CBPs have been implemented in the past, providing examples for upcoming projects on the applicability of the CBPs. New nuclear projects are rapidly approaching. In fact, there are currently several advanced reactor companies that are now utilizing NEI’s best practices and guidance to plan for each unique project phase.
What kind of outcomes are you predicting these best practices will produce?
The outcome is simple. To build new reactors on time and on budget. The experience from the 1970s and 1980s shows that we’ve done it before, and we can do it again. That expertise, and lessons in the decades since, has been captured in this implementation guide and can be applied to new nuclear projects.
How can this process help secure funding for new nuclear power projects?
If we can demonstrate that new nuclear projects, particularly those that are FOAK, can be built on-time, and on-budget, it will give investors and customers confidence to move forward with future projects. Ultimately, advanced nuclear reactors are a necessary investment to achieve our nation’s carbon reduction goals.
For questions or more information on the Construction Best Practices Task Force, please contact Hilary Lane at [email protected].
