RealClear Energy:
Bold American Strategy to Lead on Nuclear Energy

 
Last week, ClearPath Executive Director, Rich Powell joined an event hosted by DOE on the Trump Administration Strategy to Restore American Nuclear Energy Leadership: A DOE and Industry Discussion.

This week RealClear Energy published an op ed by Rich where he breaks down the Administration’s long view that a strong nuclear fuel supply industry will not exist without a thriving, growing demand for fuel.

“The strategy supports moonshot technology and robust American exports to build new reactors around the world…”

“Strategy is only as good as implementation, and this one can turn into reality — almost entirely by the Nuclear Energy Leadership Act (NELA).”

Read the full op-ed, Bold American Strategy to Lead on Nuclear Energy
 

New CCS Industrial Facilities in Canada to Have Major
CO2 Emissions Reductions

Two large industrial plants in Canada, connected to the Alberta Carbon Trunk Line (ACTL), have become the world’s 20th and 21st large-scale carbon capture and storage facilities in operation. According to the Global CCS Institute, the two facilities have a combined capture and storage capacity of around 1.6 million tons annually. The ACTL pipeline could become the largest CCS network in the world when operating at full capacity. Read more from the Global CCS Institute

To put this in perspective, take your average wind turbine, which produces enough clean energy to avoid 4000 metric tons of CO2 a year. You would need 400 turbines to equal the two recently announced CCS projects — which is roughly 13% of all US wind installed in 2018. 
 

Defense One:
Our National Security Requires a Stronger Nuclear-Energy Industry

U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette recently published an op-ed on DefenseOne.com on how important nuclear energy is to national security.

“Despite strong nuclear energy production at home, the United States has ceded its position as the world leader in nuclear energy. Russia and China have been empowered by the lack of the United States’ leadership in the international competition for nuclear influence and are filling that void by boosting uranium mining and conversion. They are also exporting nuclear reactor technology, often using anticompetitive measures that undermine global markets. Sadly, the United States is nearly absent from the global new-build nuclear reactor market, leaving critical gaps in our nation’s energy security.”

Read the full op-ed
 

IN THE HEARING ROOM

 
In the hearing room this week: On June 4, The Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works held a hearing entitled, “Infrastructure: The Road to Recovery.”
 

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
 

Administration to Waive NEPA Reviews for Some Projects
to Boost Economic Growth

The President signed an executive order on Thursday to waive certain reviews to help speed up federal approval for infrastructure and development projects in order to help increase economic growth. Read more
 

Bloomberg:
China to Dominate Nuclear as Beijing Bets on Homegrown Reactors

Bloomberg reports that China is on pace to grow from 49 GW of nuclear capacity in 2019 to 100 GW in 2030. Chinese officials say they want to start building 6-8 reactors a year. Read the article here
 

Utility Dive:
IRS clarifies carbon capture tax credit

Last week The Internal Revenue Service proposed new rules providing guidance on monitoring practices, safety and transferring of credits regarding the 45Q tax credit, encouraging technology that removes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

“The guidance will allow stakeholders in several sectors, including electric utilities, to take advantage and proceed with plans for carbon capture implementation,” said Rich Powell, Executive Director of ClearPath. Read more in Utility Dive
 

Bloomberg:
Inside Microsoft’s Mission to Go Carbon Negative

Bloomberg goes deeper on Microsoft’s pledge to be carbon negative by 2030. They also plan to create a $1 billion on a climate investment fund largely focused on carbon-removal technology. Read more
 

More and Better:
Building and Managing a Federal Energy Demonstration Project Portfolio

ITIF’s Robert Rozansky and David M. Hart recently published a report on how demonstrating the commercial viability of new technologies for deep decarbonization requires federal funding. Their report advocates for new investments for demonstration projects while reforming how they are administered. Read the report, More and Better: Building and Managing a Federal Energy Demonstration Project Portfolio.
 

Let’s Show the World We’re Serious About Nuclear Energy

In the industry, we would say the U.S. could benefit from a versatile, fast neutron source to accelerate the testing of advanced nuclear fuels, materials, instrumentation, and sensors to enable development and deployment of advanced reactor systems. In plain English, we need to get serious about having complete nuclear energy testing capabilities — ASAP.

Read ClearPath’s latest blog on why we need the Versatile Test Reactor (VTR), Let’s Show the World We’re Serious About Nuclear Energy, by Nuclear Program Director Niko McMurray.
 

THE PATH AHEAD

 
June 10: The Senate Armed Services Committee begins the markup of the National Defense Authorization Act. If markup is not completed on June 10, they will continue on June 11.

June 10: The Center for Strategic and International Studies is hosting an online event at 10 am. Register here for their Innovation in Carbon Management session

June 18: Gateway for Accelerated Innovation in Nuclear (GAIN) and the American Nuclear Society (ANS) are hosting an event, Clean Nuclear Energy for Industry: The Case for SMRs and Microreactors in Puerto Rico to discuss a recently released feasibility report. More details and register here
 

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