Welcome to your Friday Rundown, for the week ending Jan. 11. I’m your driver, ClearPath Communications Director Darren Goode. Anything we missed? Let me know at goode@clearpathaction.org. Thanks for reading.

BUILDING ON ADVANCED NUCLEAR SUCCESS LAST CONGRESS

This past Congress was undoubtedly one of the best in many years for advanced nuclear power policy.

To illustrate:

This next Congress also poses an important opportunity to go bigger on and off Capitol Hill:

Department of Energy, as directed by Congress (as in the Nuclear Energy Leadership Act) or through stand-alone executive action, should institute a moonshot goal and focus research, development and demonstration efforts on multiple advanced reactor concepts in the next decade
Congress and the administration should keep a versatile test reactor, a national lab facility critical to the development of advanced nuclear by private developers, on track for being deployed by the mid-2020s through sufficient funding and other support
Such a VTR and many other advanced reactors would need to be fueled by high-assay low-enriched uranium, of which there is no domestic supply. The federal government needs to continue to facilitate a domestic HA-LEU supply to advanced reactor developers (more on that below!)
Continued progress at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to streamline advanced reactor licensing reform and siting for small modular reactors and microreactors

DOE MOVES TOWARD DEMONSTRATING ADVANCED FUEL TECH

The Department of Energy is moving forward with the U.S. development of high-assay low-enriched uranium, which will be needed to fuel many advanced nuclear reactors.

DOE announced its intent to launch a three-year $115 million project in Ohio to demonstrate an American-owned HA-LEU production technology. This type of fuel is required for a variety of promising advanced reactors – and a commercial supply is largely only produced in Russia and not in the U.S.

Deputy Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette stressed to reporters that American HA-LEU commercialization would benefit national security and help “eliminate one of the stumbling blocks we have heard from the finance sector” for advanced reactors, Politico Pro reported. Brouillette added that nuclear power is a “critical component” to meeting “climate goals around the world.”

Congress has strongly supported U.S. HA-LEU production capacity both through recent spending packages and stand-alone legislation. That includes a bipartisan plan last Congress from Reps. Bill Flores (R-Texas) and Jerry McNerney (D-Calif.) to direct DOE to establish a program supporting HA-LEU availability via public-private partnerships to address regulatory and market challenges. A bipartisan Senate advanced nuclear blueprint, the Nuclear Energy Leadership Act, also aims to bolster U.S. HA-LEU production. The FY19 spending bill included $20 million pushed by Sens. Mike Crapo, Sheldon Whitehouse, Jim Risch and others for highly-enriched uranium recovery preparation and testing.

Last year, ClearPath Action advisor and former Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Commissioner Jeffrey Merrifield published a white paper sponsored by ClearPath and the U.S. 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.

OCCIDENTAL, CHEVRON INVEST IN DIRECT AIR CAPTURE TECH

Subsidiaries of Occidental Petroleum and Chevron are investing in Canadian clean energy company Carbon Engineering’s effort to commercialize technology that would directly remove carbon dioxide from the air.

The company’s Direct Air Capture technology already boasts investments from Bill Gates and others. Occidental and Chevron would represent the first major U.S. energy companies to put a financial stake behind the effort.

It’s also part of a broader carbon capture strategy by industry leader Occidental, which included last November’s announced investment agreement with NET Power to advance a low-cost natural gas power system that can capture all carbon dioxide.

Occidental, Chevron and ExxonMobil last year also became the first U.S.-based oil companies to join a coalition of oil and gas producers aimed at mitigating climate change, including using carbon capture for enhanced oil recovery. The Oil and Gas Climate Initiative also includes Saudi Aramco, Shell, BP and several others.

THE PATH AHEAD

THURSDAY The Bipartisan Policy Center hosts a discussion on “Energy Innovation: Fueling America’s Economic Engine,” featuring remarks from Energy Secretary Rick Perry and House Energy and Water Appropriations Chair Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio) and a panel that includes ClearPath Founder Jay Faison and Southern Company CEO Tom Fanning.

JAN. 29 The Department of Energy and ClearPath sponsor the next Atomic Wings nuclear power policy lunch, featuring discussion on microreactors. Speakers to be announced.