The award-winning series, Advancements with Ted Danson, broadcasted a new episode on Saturday, March 5, featuring representatives from the nuclear industry.
Advancements is an information-based series dedicated to educating the public about recent advances across a number of industries and economies. The series focuses on the state-of-the-art technologies and cutting-edge solutions that are responsible for shaping and transforming the world. The series airs nationwide, reaching approximately 450 million households and is distributed internationally by Voice of America.
The newest episode dives into how our largest carbon-free source of energy, nuclear, is working together with renewables to create the zero-carbon grid of the future.
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Nuclear is the backbone of the energy grid in more ways than one. It provides always on, 24/7/365 energy—and it’s clean. It supplies 30 percent of the world’s carbon-free energy, and in the U.S., it provides 50 percent of our carbon-free energy and more clean energy than all other sources combined.
It is clear that to reach our climate goals, we need more nuclear.
“Today’s energy grid is still the same one we had in 1900, and it was built primarily for coal. The energy grid of the future needs to be built on clean—solar, wind, and nuclear power,” said Josh Freed Senior Vice President of Climate and Energy at Third Way, a public policy think tank.
Nuclear is uniquely positioned to fill the gap during the transition away from fossil fuels so that nations do not have to rely on diesel or gas when the sun isn’t shining or the wind isn’t blowing.
“You need to have a resource that can balance the grid and make sure that if you’re in the middle of doing something at home using electricity—that it doesn’t just go away,” said Chris Colbert, Chief Strategy Officer and Chief Financial Officer of NuScale Power, a small modular reactor (SMR) company.
Nuclear plants are also uniquely positioned to generate jobs in communities that need them.
“We’re seeing a lot of coal plants coming offline,” Jeff Navin Director of External Affairs for TerraPower, a nuclear reactor design company founded by Bill Gates. “Advanced nuclear plants are really well suited to come into those locations, site their plants there, and replace that generation. The communities get really good jobs that are going to be around for 60 to 80 years.”
NEI’s President and Chief Executive Officer Maria Korsnick discussed advanced reactors and how new designs will not only provide electricity, but also other products such as hydrogen and high temperature steam. As designs make their way to the marketplace, public and private investment in the technology is growing.
“The advanced reactor space is very exciting right now,” said Korsnick. “There’s over 60 different technologies that are being pursued by the private sector here in the United States.”
The new reactors that developers are designing will come in various makes and models—a departure from what people traditionally think of nuclear power.
“You don’t have to be reliant on the taxpayer dollar. You can really reach different customers than you’re reaching otherwise. You’re not selling huge amounts of power to a large utility that then distributes it to a large amount of customers. You can reach campuses, hospitals, data centers—small communities that want this as part of their grid,” said Caroline Cochran, Chief Operations Officer and Cofounder of Oklo, a microreactor startup.
Advanced nuclear also provides a solution for developing countries by integrating flexibly into very small electricity grids and providing reliable, affordable access to electricity.
Nuclear energy is critical to a vision of a clean energy future. To learn more, watch the segment on Advancements with Ted Danson.
