Welcome to your Friday Rundown for the week ending August 18. Take a break from beach reading to offer feedback at info@clearpathaction.org.

ENERGY INNOVATION HEATING UP

The Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy recently announced that it is planning a new R&D program seeking innovative designs of advanced nuclear power plants and is soliciting interest in receiving new funding. The program “seeks transformative designs and manufacturing technologies to achieve semi-autonomous ’walk-away safe’ and secure operation; extremely low construction capital costs; and dramatically faster construction and commissioning times based on technologies such as modular assemblies and factory manufacturing.” ARPA-E is soliciting for “innovators from the nuclear community and other scientific and engineering disciplines to instill new, creative approaches in solving fundamental challenges in nuclear power plant design, construction, and operation.” DETAILS

DOE’s Office of Fossil Energy also has announced five additional projects that will receive $4.8 million to investigate novel uses of carbon dioxide captured from coal-fired power plants. Each project - housed at the Univ. of Michigan, Michigan State, Univ. of Illinois, Rice University and RTI International - will contribute a non-federal cost share of at least 20 percent, bringing the total award value of the projects to more than $6.1 million. The five new projects join seven others previously selected.

PERRY VISITS PNNL, HYDRO IN WASH STATE

Energy Secretary Rick Perry this week took a trip out to Washington State and Oregon, including visits to the Pacific Northwest National Lab and the McNary Dam hydropower project, alongside clean energy leaders in the region such as Energy and Commerce Chairman Greg Walden, Rep. Dan Newhouse and Senate Energy and Natural Resources ranking member Maria Cantwell.

The Energy Department took to Twitter to storify Perry’s two-day trip

RELATED READ: Jim Conca in Forbes on the importance of Perry’s PNNL visit

INNOVATION 101

Check out our quick snapshot of what’s happening in energy innovation as part of our Energy 101 series, which is designed to assist even the busiest layperson in gaining an elementary grasp of the byzantine world of conservative clean energy. The series includes short introductions to what’s also happening with carbon capture, nuclear, hydropower and natural gas. Want to dig in even more? Check back for upcoming Energy 201, 301 and more advanced content that can take you further towards becoming a true expert.

NEWS NUGGETS

Newly-named interim FERC Chairman Neil Chatterjee in a new 5-minute podcast highlighted the need for reliable baseload power such as coal and nuclear “to be properly compensated to recognize the value they provide to the system.” Chatterjee also said his priority would be digging into a heavy backlog of electric grid, natural gas pipeline and other projects that have gathered over several months before the commission regained its quorum last week.

Georgia Power this week announced progress was made in building two new nuclear reactors at Plant Vogtle with the placement of the first steam generator at one of the new reactors. This marks the first major lift of a recently finalized agreement with Westinghouse that puts Southern Nuclear in charge of overseeing construction at the Vogtle expansion site. Each new AP1000 reactor at Vogtle require two of these generators, which convert water into steam using heat produced in a nuclear reactor core.

The Georgia Public Service Commission also gave its support to continuing the Vogtle expansion. Georgia Power must show revised cost and schedule estimates, among other conditions.

RELATED READING: Georgia Public Service Commissioner Tim Echols makes the strong case in the Wall Street Journal that Georgia is sticking with nuclear power amid plant closures in other states at least in part because it is a hedge against a low-carbon economy.

CLEARPATH IN THE NEWS

ClearPath Executive Director Rich Powell tells the Associated Press that a strong U.S. nuclear energy sector is vital to America’s role in global nuclear weapon proliferation. “If you want a world safe from nuclear proliferation,” construction of nuclear plants “is how we maintain nuclear technology,” Rich told AP.

Rich also told the Washington Post that a vital nuclear industry needs continued growth. “In any industry, if it’s not growing, it’s dying,” Rich told the Post’s Dino Grandoni. “If we can’t keep some construction going, our already pretty challenged nuclear renaissance will become fully challenged.”

RELATED READING: The U.S. Is Running Out Of Nuclear Options