Welcome to your Friday Rundown for the week ending May 25. Feedback is always welcome at info@clearpathaction.org.
SENATE APPROPRIATORS PUSH STRONG CLEAN ENERGY PLAN
The Senate Appropriations Committee approved a FY19 spending bill coupling critical eagle-eyed investments in carbon capture, advanced nuclear and energy storage with record funding for the Department of Energy’s Office of Science.
Among the highlights:
Directs DOE to pursue a “moonshot” goal for demonstrating energy storage technologies with the private sector
$30 million is provided for Front-End Engineering and Design (FEED) assistance for two commercial-scale carbon capture power projects to retrofit an existing coal plant and for a coal or natural gas plant that generates CO2 suitable for utilization or storage
Aggressive funding and programmatic direction for nuclear energy research, development and demonstration including:
Support for existing light-water reactors and more advanced reactor technologies
$30 million for a transformational challenge reactor to work on new methods of reactor design, manufacturing, licensing and operation
$15 million for a new versatile test reactor, building off the initial resources provided in the recently-enacted FY18 omnibus. The VTR is a national lab facility critical to the private advanced nuclear development
$10 million toward designing and building a demonstration facility to turn spent naval spent nuclear fuel into high assay low enrichment uranium, which currently has no domestic commercial supply and is vital to fueling advanced reactors
$41 million for grid-scale energy storage research, development and demonstration, which can secure better peak demand usage of intermittent renewable and constant-running nuclear power
$375 million for DOE’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E), a highly-successful effort for boosting private activity and research projects outside of typical programs
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he plans to turn to spending bills on the floor in June. The Energy and Water and Agriculture spending bills are the first two out of the committee gate.
Nuclear power was officially recognized as the workhorse of the global clean energy sector with the launch of the Nuclear Innovation: Clean Energy (NICE) Future initiative at this week’s 9th annual Clean Energy Ministerial in Copenhagen.
The initiative – led by the U.S. Department of Energy and the governments of Japan and Canada – was kicked off at an official side event at the ministerial with Deputy Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette, senior representatives from the Canadian government, International Energy Agency, Idaho National Lab and Nuclear Energy Agency, ClearPath Executive Director Rich Powell and others.
“If the world is serious about reducing emissions and growing economies, then the ministerial must consider all options when it comes to carbon-free power, including clean, reliable nuclear energy,” Brouillette argued in a blog postahead of the ministerial.
DOE has set up an initial host page for the NICE Future effort, including featuring Rich’s video explaining that the virtues of the current nuclear fleet – namely its carbon-free power and 24/7 reliability – must be coupled with new technologies that make it smaller and highly scalable for use in cities and remote areas and allow for high-temperature use to decarbonize heavy industrial processes.
NEW GLOBAL CARBON CAPTURE INITIATIVE ALSO LAUNCHED
The U.S., Norway and Saudi Arabia also launched a new initiative at the ministerial to advance global collaboration of carbon capture, utilization and storage technologies. They and other partners – including China, Canada, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom and the European Commission – will try to strengthen a framework for building collaboration between the public and private sectors.
“Greater investments will be needed worldwide in order to fully develop and deploy CCUS as a truly effective means of lowering emissions from industrial processes and coal- and gas-fired power generation plants,” Brouillette wrote in a blog ahead of the ministerial.
SENATE EPW APPROVES “USE IT” CARBON CAPTURE BILL
The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee unanimously approved the bipartisan USE IT Act, which would support carbon capture technologies through public-private partnerships, carbon dioxide pipeline and other infrastructure improvements and R&D.
The bill is led by EPW Chairman John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) and Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) and Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.), who also spearheaded passage of the FUTURE Act (S. 1535), which extended and expanded the Section 45Q carbon capture incentive as part of February’s budget deal.
S. 2602 directs EPA to use existing authority to support research for carbon capture and utilization and direct air capture. It also clarifies that carbon capture projects and carbon dioxide pipelines are eligible for expedited permitting reviews; directs the White House Council on Environmental Quality to establish guidance to assist project developers and operators of carbon capture facilities and CO2 pipelines; and establishes task forces to hear input for updating and improving guidance.
HOUSE TARGETS ADVANCED NUCLEAR MICRO REACTORS, FUEL
House lawmakers attached to the 2019 National Defense Authorization Act bipartisan language led by Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) to require the secretary of energy to report on key components of a pilot program to site, construct and operate “micro reactors” at critical Defense Department or Energy Department national security facilities.
ClearPath Action advisor and former Nuclear Regulatory Commission Commissioner Jeff Merrifield praised the proposal at a May 22 House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Energy hearing, along with a draft bill from Rep. Bill Flores (R-Texas) to direct DOE to establish a program supporting availability of high assay low enriched uranium (HA-LEU) via public-private partnerships to address regulatory and market challenges.
Merrifield cited a recent white paperthat urged lawmakers, policymakers and the NRC to take prompt steps to ensure adequate supply of HA-LEU or risk continued progress in deploying the next generation of U.S. nuclear power.
DOE nuclear chief Ed McGinnis said the Trump administration is beginning to address the “finite and diminishing domestic supply” of HA-LEU, including working with industry on refining future material and other needs, determining how to allow the transporting of commercial-scale fuel needs and reviewing options for near-term R&D.
Subcommittee Chairman Fred Upton said he intended to act on the four bills showcased at the hearing, including the bipartisan NUKE Act (H.R. 1320)from Reps. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) and Mike Doyle (D-Pa.) that Merrifield said is a “commonsense step” to making further improvements at rightsizing NRC’s workforce and budget.
NEWS NUGGETS
The Senate Thursday gave the NRC a much-needed full roster of five commissioners by confirming Annie Caputo, a senior advisor to EPW Chairman Barrasso, and fellow Republican nominee David Wright. Democrat Jeff Baran was also confirmed for another term, which will run through June 2023. Wright and Caputo’s terms will expire in June 2020 and June 2021, respectively.
DOE announced up to $3.5 million for hydrogen production R&D that is compatible with nuclear energy sources, which could further help to integrate nuclear production with other industrial processes. DETAILS
The expansion of the Section 45Q incentive will go far in spurring carbon capture technologies, according to a new reportfrom former Energy Secretary Ernie Moniz’s Energy Futures Initiative. The report “identifies gaps that may limit deployment, and discusses the comprehensive measures that could maximize opportunity, which includes encouraging more robust investment and innovation,” said Julio Friedmann, former DOE fossil fuel chief and lead author of the report.
