Welcome to your Friday Rundown for the week ending July 13. Non-superstitious feedback is welcome at info@clearpathaction.org.
HOUSE ENERGY ADVANCES NEXT-GEN NUCLEAR PLANS
The House Energy and Commerce Committee approved two bills that would spur deployment of advanced nuclear technologies.
A bipartisan bill led by Reps. Bill Flores (R-Texas) and Jerry McNerney (D-Calif.) directs the Department of Energy to establish a program supporting availability of high assay low enriched uranium (HA-LEU) via public-private partnerships to address regulatory and market challenges.
ClearPath Action advisor and former NRC Commissioner Jeffrey Merrifield co-authored a recent white paper sponsored by ClearPath and the US Nuclear Industry Council that 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.
Merrifield and URENCO USA President Melissa Mann testified in support of the House Committee measure on behalf of ClearPath and USNIC at a May 22 hearing.
The House Energy panel also approved the bipartisan NUKE Act (H.R. 1320) from Reps. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) and Mike Doyle (D-Pa.) that is a commonsense step to making further improvements at rightsizing NRC’s workforce and budget. It does this by establishing reasonable deadlines for major applications and other efforts to streamline licensing, and authorizes studies to reconsider outdated regulations of the Atomic Energy Act.
NEAC KICKS OFF
The new membership of the Department of Energy’s Nuclear Energy Advisory Committee – including ClearPath Founder Jay Faison – held its inaugural meeting Monday.
DOE caught up with Jay for a short vignette on why U.S. commercial nuclear power is so important, including being a critical crossover to naval and other military applications and as an efficient, reliable and zero-carbon form of power. He also stressed that China and Russia are rushing to claim what could be a $1 trillion global nuclear market that the U.S. once dominated.
DOE Tuesday announced nine projects that will receive nearly $20 million for cost-shared advanced nuclear R&D. That includes $7 million in DOE funding and $7.1 million in non-DOE funding for the second phase of NuScale Power’s small modular reactor effort. A GE-Hitachi effort to reduce small light-water reactor plant construction and maintenance costs through better safety and other upgrades will receive more than $1.9 million from DOE. And more than $12.6 million in combined DOE and non-DOE funding will go to Holtec International’s effort to advance hybrid laser arc welding for fabricating small modular reactors to improve reliability, quality and cost.
This is the second batch of funding under the department’s Industry Opportunities for Advanced Nuclear Technology Development effort , with another $30 million coming later this year. DETAILS
A GLOBAL COAL RENAISSANCE?
While coal currently accounts for less than 1% of the primary energy production throughout the Middle East, that is expected to significantly change over the next decade, notes Moscow-based writer and political analyst Dmitriy Frolovskiy in RealClear World. The United Arab Emirates, Oman, Jordan, Turkey and Iran all have plans for new coal capacity amid energy security concerns and a broader need for power growth. There are already plans for a major new coal plant in Egypt, whose growing population and underequipped power sector have left it with summer blackouts and a continual energy shortage. Other coal facilities are also being
considered in Egypt.
Of the 1.2 billion people who lack access to electricity today, roughly 240 million are in India. On top of that, energy demand there is going to quadruple as they plug-in to the 21st century, requiring a rapid build-out of new electricity sources. India sits on the fifth largest coal reserve in the world and is going to heavily rely upon it to meet this growing demand. But India’s commitment to addressing climate change and a growing interest in U.S. carbon capture technologies – including those being researched at Southern Company’s National Carbon Capture Center – was also evident when Jay met with India’s Secretary of Coal Susheel Kumar in Birmingham last
September.
That’s why recently successful bipartisan efforts to extend the Section 45 tax credit for carbon capture projects and the latest push to bolster carbon pipelines and other infrastructure is so crucial even if coal demand in the U.S. is dropping.
RELATED READ: As Congress promotes carbon capture, lack of pipelines slows companies looking to cash in HOUSTON CHRONICLE
THE PATH AHEAD
TUESDAYHouse Science Committee hearing on the future of fossil energy tech, featuring testimony from Carbon Utilization Research Council Executive Director Shannon Angielski, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Senior Scientist Roger Aines and Wyoming Infrastructure Authority Executive Director Jason Begger. DETAILS
WEDNESDAY House Energy and Commerce Energy Subcommittee hearing, “Powering America: The Role of Energy Storage in the Nation’s Electricity System.” DETAILS
THURSDAYThird Way, XPRIZE and the Center for Carbon Removal co-host a Dirksen Senate Office Building briefing showcasing the growth of the carbon capture industry, including a sneak peak of Third Way’s new Carbon Capture Map. RSVP
