A Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing highlighted the Nuclear Energy Leadership Act as a way to raise the U.S. profile in a global advanced nuclear race led by China and Russia.
“The loss of our nuclear leadership to these competitor nations means a degradation of our energy security, economic opportunities, as well as our global security,” said Chairman Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), who is leading the bill with Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.). NELA is “designed to reposition the United States as the undisputed world leader in advanced nuclear technology,” she said.
Idaho National Lab Director Mark Peters said the bill’s aggressive goals – including completing two advanced reactor demonstrations by the end of 2025 and two to five more operational advanced reactor designs 10 years later – “will drive the necessary prioritization and strong sense of urgency that we must have.”
Jeff Merrifield, a former Nuclear Regulatory Commission commissioner and a member of ClearPath’s advisory board, praised NELA for addressing the lack of domestic supply of high-assay low-enriched uranium (HA-LEU), which will be needed to fuel most advanced reactors being designed, by establishing a program to provide a minimum amount of HA-LEU to U.S. advanced reactor developers from Department of Energy sources until a new long-term supply is developed.
He also noted the bill’s authorization of a reliable testing ground for advanced fuels and materials by directing DOE to construct a fast neutron research facility that will be used to test reactor components and demonstrate their safe and reliable operation, as well as fulfill other national research and development needs. Currently, the only machines capable of producing an adequate fast neutron spectrum are located in Russia and China.
RELATED NEWS
NuScale Power signed a memorandum of understanding with South Korean infrastructure company Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction Co. Ltd. on Monday to cooperate on manufacturing parts related to NuScale’s small modular reactor concept.
The Department of Defense issued a Request for Solutions for the first phase of a multi-phase prototype project for a small mobile nuclear reactor.
The request for information includes a 45-day comment period “on issues arising under” 45Q “as well as specific comments concerning the secure geologic storage and measurement of qualified [CO2], the recapture of the benefit of the credit for [CO2] sequestration, and other issues.” Comments “will help to inform development of future regulations and other guidance implementing” the 45Q credit, the notice says.
The details of how the IRS would implement the credit is essential for companies and other investors to commit to new carbon capture, storage and utilization projects that could be financed by the credit.
A hodgepodge of technological tools were highlighted at an April 30 hearing of the House climate select committee hearing, including carbon capture, advanced nuclear and energy storage.
There is “pretty wide consensus” that three core technologies – carbon capture and storage, stationary storage and advanced nuclear – are ready to reach global scale and drive down carbon emissions, U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Global Energy Institute Acting President Christopher Guith told the select committee.
While inaction on climate change is not an option, the solutions center on technological innovation and recognizing the global nature of the problem, Guith said.
And “if it’s done right … there will be a place at the table, a job and a paycheck for every American while we solve the climate crisis,” said David Foster, a former senior advisor to Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz who represented the Energy Futures Initiative at the select committee hearing. That includes renewable and battery storage efforts in California, carbon capture in Appalachia and small modular reactors in Idaho, he said.
The Department of Energy is inching towards being the first federal agency to have its full suite of nominees confirmed by the Senate. William Cooper’s nomination to be DOE’s general counsel was confirmed this week, 68-31.
Cooper, a previous senior House aide and president of the Center for Liquefied Natural Gas, was approved by the Senate energy panel back in March alongside Rita Baranwal to head DOE’s Office of Nuclear Energy, Chris Fall to lead the Office of Science and Lane Genatowski to head ARPA-E.
While those other nominations haven’t yet advanced to the full Senate, Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto this week lifted her hold on all three, potentially paving the path for expedited confirmation.
ENERGY STORAGE NEWS NUGGETS
Federal energy regulators granted approval and a license this week to an Oregon pumped hydrogen energy storage project, the first facility of its kind in decades to be licensed in the Pacific Northwest. If built, the Swan Lake North pumped storage project would have a capacity of 393 megawatts (enough to meet the instantaneous demand of up to 390,000 homes) and would be the largest energy storage facility in the region.
Southern California Edison has signed seven contracts for 195 MW of energy storage, including what would become one of North America’s largest operational lithium-ion battery systems when it comes online in December 2020.
A massive pumped hydro project under construction in Australia could store 2,700 times more energy compared to the world’s largest battery that Tesla built in South Australia in 2017. That could amount to the same power output as two large nuclear reactors and sustain that for a full week, Harvard University’s Jesse Jenkins told Axios.
WHAT’S JAY TWEETING?
THE PATH AHEAD
TODAY House Science subcommittee field hearing: “How the Domestic Nuclear Industry Boosts Local Economies, Curbs Emissions, and Strengthens National Security.”
THURSDAY Energy Secretary Perry testifies at a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee hearing on DOE’s FY20 budget request.
MAY 16 The Atlantic Council Global Energy Center hosts a discussion on “The Future of Energy Storage.” Quartz Senior Reporter and Global Energy Center Senior Fellow Akshat Rathi moderates a panel featuring Wood Mackenzie Energy Storage Analyst Mitalee Gupta and Carnegie Mellon University Assistant Professor Venkat Viswanathan.
