Laying the Foundation for New and Advanced Nuclear Reactors in the United States (2023) / Chapter Skim
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Appendix I: Report Findings and Recommendations
Appendix I: Report Findings and Recommendations
Pages 220-233
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From page 220... ...
Growth in electricity demand and the need to achieve economywide decarbonization over the coming several decades present important long-term opportunities for advanced nuclear technologies. Finding 1-3: In order for advanced reactors to contribute significantly to a decarbonized energy system, there are many challenges that must be overcome.
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This could take the form of a strategic partnership for research and development involving DOE's Office of Nuclear Energy and Office of Science, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the Electric Power Research Institute, the nuclear industry, national laboratories, and universities.
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The Inflation Reduction Act adds/modifies various clean energy tax provisions in the Internal Revenue Code, which will expand the participation of clean energy technologies, including existing and advanced new nuclear, in wholesale, bulk power markets and retail electricity markets. Recommendation 3-2: The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC)
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Last, FERC should consider the potential future impact of a broad range of new and expanded tax credits that apply to new nuclear, renewables, energy storage, hydrogen, and other clean energy technologies that serve electricity markets. CHAPTER 4 Finding 4-1: The key economic challenge for advanced nuclear reactors is the need to either be cost competitive with other low-carbon energy systems in providing electricity, expand their use to applications beyond the electricity sector, or have an otherwise strong value proposition that encourages investment.
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Recommendation 5-1: Industrial applications using thermal energy present an important new mission for advanced reactors. Key research and development needs for industrial applications include assessing system integration, operations, safety, community acceptance, market size as a function of varying levels of implicit or explicit carbon price, and regulatory risks, with hydrogen production as a top priority.
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Alternatively, advanced reactor developers operating within the traditional project delivery model should consider implementing a long-term business relationship, preferably an equity partnership such as a joint venture, or a consortium, with a qualified engineering, procurement, and construction firm experienced in the nuclear industry. Recommendation 6-3: Department of Energy programs such as the Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program should develop criteria that encourage and incentivize all major government-funded nuclear power projects to include a formal collaborative agreement between the reactor vendor and an experienced development firm to ensure that there is management capacity to complete nuclear construction projects successfully, on budget, and on schedule.
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Further research on digital engineering tools is needed to determine the value of implementing them in advanced reactor installations. Recommendation 6-7: The Department of Energy's Office of Nuclear Energy and Advanced Research Projects Agency–Energy as appropriate should enhance collaboration among entities currently researching and developing digital engineering technologies to support improved vendor fabrication and certification of components.
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funding for advanced construction technologies R&D is small in comparison to the hundreds of millions spent on nuclear island technology research, more should be done over an extended period to research technologies that may streamline and reduce costs for this work. DOE should expand its current efforts in R&D for nuclear construction and make these advanced technologies broadly available, including to vendors participating in the Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program Risk Reduction and ARC20 programs.
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This should involve increased engagement with the International Atomic Energy Agency and the Nuclear Energy Agency on these matters, as well as exploration of regulatory mechanisms like those used by the aviation industry. In the meantime, bilateral arrangements with other countries pursuing advanced reactors, such as the memorandum of understanding that the United States has entered with Canada, may pave the way for broader international harmonization.
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Finding 8-3: Risk communication strategies that rely exclusively or greatly on the engineer's myth and the deficit model of science communication have been tried in the nuclear industry and have failed comprehensively. Recommendation 8-2: To improve the prospects for nuclear deployment in coming decades, nuclear vendors need to employ new risk communication strategies, including those grounded in rigorous social science (rather than polling)
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Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) staff has proposed significant modifications to physical security requirements to accommodate designs and operations proposed by licensees of advanced reactors that differ from larger light water power reactors.
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Finding 9-3: As advanced reactors continue to be developed with the potential of rapid scale-up both domestically and internationally in the coming decades, it is crucial to recognize, prioritize, and address potential gaps in safeguards technology and to incorporate key measurement capabilities at the earliest stages of the design process. Several initiatives in the United States and within the International Atomic Energy Agency have begun to address these challenges.
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federal agencies -- Department of Energy, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and Department of Commerce -- working on the different licensing and authorization processes regularly speak and work with one another when presented with an application. This close coordination across these lead agencies has several benefits: it may reduce the need for extensive modification to manage the export of new and advanced reactors and their technologies, and, given that the export of any individual advanced reactor by a U.S.
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exporters. Finding 10-6: Increasing harmonization in developing and interpreting international nuclear export control guidelines as they apply to advanced reactors by nuclear suppliers will help equalize regulatory requirements facing U.S.
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