![]() ![]() "Even with deployment of renewable technologies like solar and wind, there is still the issue of intermittency and the need for storage capacity," says Hezir. One of these newer reactors will be built and tested in Alaska by the Pentagon by the end of 2027. He notes that micro-reactors, if they can be economical and successfully deployed, could open up a lot of markets around the world, including developing countries. Hezir points to several major developments in the past decade and a half: nuclear plant technology that doesn't rely on light water but molten salt and high-temperature gas for coolant enriched uranium that is longer-lasting and more efficient and the increased ability to design and build small modular reactors than can be constructed more inexpensively in factories rather than at a huge construction site. "A lot of stars are aligned right now," says MIT nuclear engineering professor Jacopo Buongiorno, pointing to increased concerns about climate change and the advancements in nuclear technology that have made it safer and more efficient.Īdvanced nuclear is one of the breakthrough technologies that could have a significant impact on decarbonization, says Joseph Hezir, principal at the Energy Futures Initiative and former adviser to Obama-era Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz. Department of Energy, which touts the fact that it would take 3 million solar panels or more than 400 wind turbines to provide the same power as a one-gigawatt reactor. Nuclear’s potential has been eagerly embraced by the U.S. ![]() Global nuclear generating capacity is expected to almost double by 2050, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). And those numbers are expected to grow at home and around the world. ![]() A new generation of nuclear techĬurrently, nuclear supplies 20% of electricity in the U.S. abruptly dropping their ambitious plans for new ones. And the meltdown of three reactors at Fukushima in Japan, leading to the evacuation of 154,000 people, scuttled plans around the globe, with Germany phasing out its last six reactors, and utilities in the U.S. But in the end, only two new reactors were built, according to Time magazine, and the momentum withered because of competition from the cheap natural gas of the fracking boom and well-subsidized renewables like solar and wind. It had been several decades since the Chernobyl and Three Mile Island disasters, and many energy experts were convinced that the future looked bright. The challenge of climate change was causing policymakers to take a fresh look at nuclear’s potential as a zero-emission clean-energy source. At the start of the Obama administration, there was a nuclear renaissance, with applications for 30 new reactors in the U.S. The looming threat of climate change is more pressing than ever there is bipartisan support for expanding our use of nuclear energy advances in technology have made nuclear more efficient and safer than ever and the government has committed billions in funding to nuclear power. While there have been previous nuclear revivals, this time is different. Even the environmental group Greenpeace is no longer actively campaigning against nuclear power over its safety issues. to achieve its goal of a net-zero carbon economy by 2050. And the Biden administration says that the country’s 94 nuclear reactors will be “absolutely essential” for the U.S. The House-passed version of the Build Back Better bill also includes between $20 billion and $25 billion in subsidies to keep older reactors running. The White House requested $1.8 billion for nuclear energy in its fiscal 2022 budget, a 50% increase from last year’s levels, with Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm telling reporters at the recent UN Climate Conference that “we are very bullish on these advanced nuclear reactors” and pointing to the emerging technology of small, modular reactors. ![]()
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