Latest news with #NuclearEnergyInstitute
Fox News
3 days ago
- Politics
- Fox News
Evening Edition: President Trump Pushes For Increase In Nuclear Power
Last week, President Trump signed a series of executive orders to dramatically increase and accelerate the construction of nuclear power plants in the United States. One order cuts reactor approval times, another speeds up testing times for new reactor models and a third establishes a joint effort between the Department of Energy and the Department of Defense to build and operate reactors on federal sites. The sweeping orders are largely a part of efforts to meet energy demands of artificial intelligence and domestic production. FOX's Eben Brown speaks with John Kotek, Senior Vice-President for Policy Development and Public Affairs for The Nuclear Energy Institute, who says we need to catch up to countries like China and Russia in nuclear power development. Click Here To Follow 'The FOX News Rundown: Evening Edition' Learn more about your ad choices. Visit
Business Insider
6 days ago
- Business
- Business Insider
Nuclear power is having a renaissance. Here's what consultants say about the industry's future.
It wasn't long ago that the very mention of "nuclear" was enough to unsettle people across the ideological spectrum. Between the meltdown of a nuclear reactor at Three Mile Island, explosions in Chernobyl, and an earthquake-powered disaster at Fukushima, the one thing people seemed to agree on was that nuclear was a dirty, if not dangerous, word. But times have changed, new insights and new data have emerged, and what once seemed unethical has been rebranded as clean, in every sense. The nuclear energy renaissance — fueled by Big Tech investment, a more favorable legislative climate, and shifting public opinion — hinges on a change in perspective: Nuclear energy has the potential to be one of the cleanest and most reliable forms of energy on Earth. But the construction of nuclear reactors in the United States — where nuclear accounted for 19% of electricity generated in 2023, according to the US Energy Information Administration — is lagging compared to efforts in China and elsewhere, according to the Boston Consulting Group. That's part of why consulting firms are searching for ways for nuclear energy companies to cut costs, improve efficiencies, and remove the obstacles holding up progress. Public sentiment is still a headwind There are 94 nuclear reactors in the United States, according to the Nuclear Energy Institute. And tech giants are investing considerably to bring new ones online. Last October, Amazon invested $500 million in X-Energy, a developer of small nuclear reactors and fuel. Around the same time, Google said it would purchase nuclear energy from Kairos Power, a California-based company developing small modular reactors. The month before, Constellation Energy struck a deal with Microsoft to provide the tech giant with nuclear power for the next two decades by resurrecting part of the Three Mile Island nuclear plant in Pennsylvania. The Trump administration is also working to jumpstart nuclear reactor construction, building on Biden's ADVANCE Act last year, which sought to remove regulatory hurdles. Trump issued four executive orders on Friday to accelerate the development of the domestic nuclear energy industry, touching on areas from fuel cycle development to reactor construction, testing, and licensing, to workforce training. However, hurdles persist. "Growth in nuclear power is projected to be almost flat to 2050 due to more stringent regulatory requirements than for other low-carbon energy sources, negative public perception, perceived safety issues, supply chain constraints, and uncertainty around waste disposal," McKinsey & Company wrote in its 2024 Global Energy Perspective. Some of the persisting negative sentiment can be attributed to concerns about how the radioactive waste that nuclear reactors generate will be stored. The federal government once planned to direct all waste to Yucca Mountain in Nevada, but lawmakers and the public objected. There are also lingering concerns about the government's capacity to mitigate nuclear disasters and nuclear power's association with nuclear weapons proliferation. There is hope, however. In 2024, three-quarters of respondents, out of a sample of 3.5 million people used by Bisconti Research, said they favored the use of nuclear energy for electricity, up from about half in the 1980s and 1990s. The efficiency of construction Large-scale nuclear reactors require a significant investment in time and money. They necessitate significant upfront capital and require long construction windows that are often beset by delays, cost issues, and regulatory hurdles. BCG says that the "simpler the design, the better." The firm said the optimal design should follow "a 'design-for-manufacturing' approach, which has delivered compelling results in other industries such as aerospace and defense." The goal, according to BCG, should be to standardize the components and material needed for construction, along with reducing the number of construction steps to promote "modularity," the firm said. That applies to both large-scale and small-scale reactors, Benjamin Vannier, managing director and partner at BCG, told BI by email. The AP1000, a large-scale pressurized water reactor, is an example of a reactor designed for modular construction, he added. Modularity is perhaps the biggest trend in nuclear right now. There are a number of small modular reactor companies, like Oklo, which was until recently chaired by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman; TerraPower, which is backed by Bill Gates; and X-Energy, which Amazon invested $500 million in last year. These more compact nuclear reactors are designed to be built in factories and then shipped to sites for installation and are, therefore, easier to standardize for production. The economics of scaling Nuclear fission, which produces energy by splitting uranium atoms, releases almost no greenhouse gas emissions. Many AI executives consider nuclear fission the only reliable way to power their data centers. Tech leaders are also excited by recent advances in fusion technology, which involves combining two atomic nuclei to release energy and is considered safer than fission. Type One Energy, funded by Gates, published research in March that shows there are no scientific barriers left to making commercial fusion a reality. However, nuclear power remains only a "medium-term solution," McKinsey said in a 2024 report on data centers and power. "The timeline to scale nuclear so it can achieve rapid, repeated deployment is nearly a decade, while constraints on data center power are appearing today." It added, "The early economics of nuclear are challenging compared with other energy options, and implementing various technologies to try to reduce its costs may or may not work." While power plants are relatively cheap to run in the long term and can last as long as 60 years, they require considerable upfront investment. In a report published in 2017, the World Nuclear Association said that nuclear plants are strongly influenced by capital cost, which accounts for at least 60% of their total levelized cost of electricity, which is essentially a measure of a plant's economic efficiency. It is calculated by dividing the total cost to build and operate a power plant over its lifetime by the total electricity output. Generative AI may help improve efficiencies on the operating side. Rafee Tarafdar, the chief technology officer of Infosys, a global consulting firm, told BI that the firm is helping companies integrate AI into their plans. "One proof of value that we built is: How do we use all the logs, all the sensors that come from all these machines in order to triage, predict failures, and help resolve issues much earlier," he said, in reference to the work the firm did with a large US energy company. The consensus among consulting firms is that solving early construction bottlenecks is key to scaling nuclear energy as a viable power source for AI and beyond.
Yomiuri Shimbun
14-05-2025
- Business
- Yomiuri Shimbun
Senior Official of U.S. Nuclear Energy Institute Calls Building New Reactors ‘Imperative' in Japan; Communication Key to Nuclear Power Acceptance
The Yomiuri Shimbun John Kotek speaks in an interview with The Yomiuri Shimbun in Tokyo in April. Japan and other countries will find it 'imperative' to build new nuclear reactors as demand for electricity grows with the spread of generative artificial intelligence, according to an official of the Nuclear Energy Institute. John Kotek, 57, senior vice president of the institute, which comprises U.S. entities connected to the nuclear energy industry, made the comment in an interview with The Yomiuri Shimbun in Tokyo in April while visiting the country at the invitation of the Japan Atomic Industrial Forum, Inc. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, there were 94 nuclear reactors in the United States in 2024 with a total generating capacity of 97 gigawatts, the largest capacity in the world. In Japan, only 14 reactors are in operation in the wake of the 2011 accident at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, and the construction of new reactors has ground to a halt. 'Public opinion surveys in the U.S. show that support for nuclear power is roughly 20% higher in communities that host nuclear power plants,' Kotek said. A reason for this, he explained, is that some utility companies arrange plant tours when requested by local schools and members of the public. They also host lectures and other events featuring nuclear experts to dispel locals' concerns. Kotek praised Japan's nuclear power industry for its innovative technological capabilities and said that those capabilities will make the country a 'key player in the global expansion of nuclear energy.' He also applauded the introduction of an advanced boiling water reactor (ABWR) at the No. 6 reactor of the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant in Niigata Prefecture, noting that the process from laying the foundations to loading the fuel took only three years. The plant, operated by Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, Inc., was the first in the world to adopt an ABWR. In the United States, the No.1 reactor at the Three Mile Island Nuclear Station is expected to resume operations as early as in 2028. The No. 1 reactor is adjacent to the reactor that caused a meltdown. In reference to the incident at the Fukushima nuclear power plant, which is currently undergoing decommissioning, Kotek said that public trust can be restored in nuclear power businesses if the proper procedures are followed and persistent work is done, alongside efforts to engage in regular communication with local communities. John Kotek, senior vice president of the Nuclear Energy Institute Kotek holds a bachelor of science in nuclear engineering from the University of Illinois and a master of business administration from the University of Maryland. He was previously a U.S. congressional fellow and served in such posts as manager of research and development programs at the Idaho National Laboratory and acting assistant secretary for nuclear energy in the U.S. Energy Department. He assumed his current position in 2017.
Asharq Al-Awsat
29-03-2025
- Business
- Asharq Al-Awsat
New Wave of Smaller, Cheaper Nuclear Reactors Sends US States Racing to Attract the Industry
With the promise of newer, cheaper nuclear power on the horizon, US states are vying to position themselves to build and supply the industry's next generation as policymakers consider expanding subsidies and paving over regulatory obstacles. Advanced reactor designs from competing firms are filling up the federal government's regulatory pipeline as the industry touts them as a reliable, climate-friendly way to meet electricity demands from tech giants desperate to power their fast-growing artificial intelligence platforms. The reactors could be operational as early as 2030, giving states a short runway to roll out the red carpet, and they face lingering public skepticism about safety and growing competition from renewables like wind and solar. Still, the reactors have high-level federal support, and utilities across the US are working to incorporate the energy source into their portfolios. Last year, 25 states passed legislation to support advanced nuclear energy and this year lawmakers have introduced over 200 bills supportive of nuclear energy, said Marc Nichol of the Nuclear Energy Institute, a trade association whose members include power plant owners, universities and labor unions. "We've seen states taking action at ever-increasing levels for the past few years now," Nichol said in an interview. Smaller, more flexible nuclear reactors Smaller reactors are, in theory, faster to build and easier to site than conventional reactors. They could be factory-built from standard parts and are touted as flexible enough to plunk down for a single customer, like a data center or an industrial complex. Advanced reactors, called small modular reactors and microreactors, produce a fraction of the energy produced by the conventional nuclear reactors built around the world for the last 50 years. Where conventional reactors produce 800 to 1,000 megawatts, or enough to power about half a million homes, modular reactors produce 300 megawatts or less and microreactors produce no more than 20 megawatts. Tech giants Amazon and Google are investing in nuclear reactors to get the power they need, as states compete with Big Tech, and each other, in a race for electricity. States are embracing nuclear energy For some state officials, nuclear is a carbon-free source of electricity that helps them meet greenhouse gas-reduction goals. Others see it as an always-on power source to replace an accelerating wave of retiring coal-fired power plants. Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee last month proposed more than $90 million to help subsidize a Tennessee Valley Authority project to install several small reactors, boost research and attract nuclear tech firms. Long a proponent of the TVA's nuclear project, Lee also launched Tennessee's Nuclear Energy Fund in 2023, designed to attract a supply chain, including a multibillion-dollar uranium enrichment plant billed as the state's biggest-ever industrial investment. In Utah, where Gov. Spencer Cox announced "Operation Gigawatt" to double the state's electricity generation in a decade, the Republican wants to spend $20 million to prepare sites for nuclear. State Senate President J. Stuart Adams told colleagues when he opened the chamber's 2025 session that Utah needs to be the "nation's nuclear hub." Texas Gov. Greg Abbott declared his state is "ready to be No. 1 in advanced nuclear power" as Texas lawmakers consider billions in nuclear power incentives. Michigan lawmakers are considering millions of dollars in incentives to develop and use the reactors, as well as train a nuclear industry workforce. One state over, Indiana lawmakers this month passed legislation to let utilities more quickly seek reimbursement for the cost to build a modular reactor, undoing a decades-old prohibition designed to protect ratepayers from bloated, inefficient or, worse, aborted power projects. In Arizona, lawmakers are considering a utility-backed bill to relax environmental regulations if a utility builds a reactor at the site of a large industrial power user or a retired coal-fired power plant. Big expectations, uncertain future Still, the devices face an uncertain future. No modular reactors are operating in the US and a project to build the first, this one in Idaho, was terminated in 2023, despite getting federal aid. The US Department of Energy last year, under then-President Joe Biden, estimated the US will need an additional 200 gigawatts of new nuclear capacity to keep pace with future power demands and reach net-zero emissions of planet-warming greenhouse gases by 2050 to avoid the worst effects of climate change. The US currently has just under 100 gigawatts of nuclear power operating. More than 30 advanced nuclear projects are under consideration or planned to be in operation by the early 2030s, Nichol of the NEI said, but those would supply just a fraction of the 200 gigawatt goal. Work to produce a modular reactor has drawn billions of dollars in federal subsidies, loan guarantees and more recently tax credits signed into law by Biden. Those have been critical to the nuclear industry, which expects them to survive under President Donald Trump, whose administration it sees as a supporter. Supply challenges and competition from renewables The US remains without a long-term solution for storing radioactive waste, safety regulators are under pressure from Congress to approve designs and there are serious questions about industry claims that the smaller reactors are efficient, safe and reliable, said Edwin Lyman, director of nuclear power safety at the Union of Concerned Scientists. Plus, Lyman said, "the likelihood that those are going to be deployable and instantly 100% reliable right out of the gate is just not consistent with the history of nuclear power development. And so it's a much riskier bet." Nuclear also has competition from renewable energies. Brendan Kochunas, an assistant professor of nuclear engineering at the University of Michigan, said advanced reactors may have a short window to succeed, given the regulatory scrutiny they undergo and the advances in energy storage technologies to make wind and solar power more reliable. Those storage technologies could develop faster, bring down renewables' cost and, ultimately, make more economic sense than nuclear, Kochunas said. The supply chain for building reactors is another question. The US lacks high-quality concrete- and steel-fabrication design skills necessary to manufacture a nuclear power plant, Kochunas said. That introduces the prospect of higher costs and longer timelines, he said. While foreign suppliers could help, there also is the fuel to consider. Kathryn Huff, a former top Energy Department official who is now an associate professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, said uranium enrichment capacity in the US and among its allies needs to grow in order to support reactor production. First-of-their-kind reactors need to get up and running close to their target dates, Huff said, "in order for anyone to have faith that a second or third or fourth one should be built."
The Independent
29-03-2025
- Business
- The Independent
New wave of smaller, cheaper nuclear reactors sends US states racing to attract the industry
With the promise of newer, cheaper nuclear power on the horizon, U.S. states are vying to position themselves to build and supply the industry's next generation as policymakers consider expanding subsidies and paving over regulatory obstacles. Advanced reactor designs from competing firms are filling up the federal government's regulatory pipeline as the industry touts them as a reliable, climate-friendly way to meet electricity demands from tech giants desperate to power their fast-growing artificial intelligence platforms. The reactors could be operational as early as 2030, giving states a short runway to roll out the red carpet, and they face lingering public skepticism about safety and growing competition from renewables like wind and solar. Still, the reactors have high-level federal support, and utilities across the U.S. are working to incorporate the energy source into their portfolios. Last year, 25 states passed legislation to support advanced nuclear energy and this year lawmakers have introduced over 200 bills supportive of nuclear energy, said Marc Nichol of the Nuclear Energy Institute, a trade association whose members include power plant owners, universities and labor unions. 'We've seen states taking action at ever-increasing levels for the past few years now,' Nichol said in an interview. Smaller, more flexible nuclear reactors Smaller reactors are, in theory, faster to build and easier to site than conventional reactors. They could be factory-built from standard parts and are touted as flexible enough to plunk down for a single customer, like a data center or an industrial complex. Advanced reactors, called small modular reactors and microreactors, produce a fraction of the energy produced by the conventional nuclear reactors built around the world for the last 50 years. Where conventional reactors produce 800 to 1,000 megawatts, or enough to power about half a million homes, modular reactors produce 300 megawatts or less and microreactors produce no more than 20 megawatts. Tech giants Amazon and Google are investing in nuclear reactors to get the power they need, as states compete with Big Tech, and each other, in a race for electricity. States are embracing nuclear energy For some state officials, nuclear is a carbon-free source of electricity that helps them meet greenhouse gas-reduction goals. Others see it as an always-on power source to replace an accelerating wave of retiring coal-fired power plants. Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee last month proposed more than $90 million to help subsidize a Tennessee Valley Authority project to install several small reactors, boost research and attract nuclear tech firms. Long a proponent of the TVA's nuclear project, Lee also launched Tennessee's Nuclear Energy Fund in 2023, designed to attract a supply chain, including a multibillion-dollar uranium enrichment plant billed as the state's biggest-ever industrial investment. In Utah, where Gov. Spencer Cox announced 'Operation Gigawatt' to double the state's electricity generation in a decade, the Republican wants to spend $20 million to prepare sites for nuclear. State Senate President J. Stuart Adams told colleagues when he opened the chamber's 2025 session that Utah needs to be the 'nation's nuclear hub." Texas Gov. Greg Abbott declared his state is 'ready to be No. 1 in advanced nuclear power" as Texas lawmakers consider billions in nuclear power incentives. Michigan lawmakers are considering millions of dollars in incentives to develop and use the reactors, as well as train a nuclear industry workforce. One state over, Indiana lawmakers this month passed legislation to let utilities more quickly seek reimbursement for the cost to build a modular reactor, undoing a decades-old prohibition designed to protect ratepayers from bloated, inefficient or, worse, aborted power projects. In Arizona, lawmakers are considering a utility-backed bill to relax environmental regulations if a utility builds a reactor at the site of a large industrial power user or a retired coal-fired power plant. Big expectations, uncertain future Still, the devices face an uncertain future. No modular reactors are operating in the U.S. and a project to build the first, this one in Idaho, was terminated in 2023, despite getting federal aid. The U.S. Department of Energy last year, under then-President Joe Biden, estimated the U.S. will need an additional 200 gigawatts of new nuclear capacity to keep pace with future power demands and reach net-zero emissions of planet-warming greenhouse gases by 2050 to avoid the worst effects of climate change. The U.S. currently has just under 100 gigawatts of nuclear power operating. More than 30 advanced nuclear projects are under consideration or planned to be in operation by the early 2030s, Nichol of the NEI said, but those would supply just a fraction of the 200 gigawatt goal. Work to produce a modular reactor has drawn billions of dollars in federal subsidies, loan guarantees and more recently tax credits signed into law by Biden. Those have been critical to the nuclear industry, which expects them to survive under President Donald Trump, whose administration it sees as a supporter. Supply challenges and competition from renewables The U.S. remains without a long-term solution for storing radioactive waste, safety regulators are under pressure from Congress to approve designs and there are serious questions about industry claims that the smaller reactors are efficient, safe and reliable, said Edwin Lyman, director of nuclear power safety at the Union of Concerned Scientists. Plus, Lyman said, 'the likelihood that those are going to be deployable and instantly 100% reliable right out of the gate is just not consistent with the history of nuclear power development. And so it's a much riskier bet.' Nuclear also has competition from renewable energies. Brendan Kochunas, an assistant professor of nuclear engineering at the University of Michigan, said advanced reactors may have a short window to succeed, given the regulatory scrutiny they undergo and the advances in energy storage technologies to make wind and solar power more reliable. Those storage technologies could develop faster, bring down renewables' cost and, ultimately, make more economic sense than nuclear, Kochunas said. The supply chain for building reactors is another question. The U.S. lacks high-quality concrete- and steel-fabrication design skills necessary to manufacture a nuclear power plant, Kochunas said. That introduces the prospect of higher costs and longer timelines, he said. While foreign suppliers could help, there also is the fuel to consider. Kathryn Huff, a former top Energy Department official who is now an associate professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, said uranium enrichment capacity in the U.S. and among its allies needs to grow in order to support reactor production. First-of-their-kind reactors need to get up and running close to their target dates, Huff said, "in order for anyone to have faith that a second or third or fourth one should be built.' ___ Follow Marc Levy on X at:
