The United States is accelerating efforts to license and build a new generation of nuclear reactors to provide carbon-free electricity.
Faster development is one thing on which Congress and the administration agree. In July, President Joe Biden signed legislation to modernize the licensing of new reactor technologies so they can be built more quickly. Republican and Democratic leaders of the Senate Environment Committee and the House Energy Committee praised the legislation.
The US is pursuing small modular reactors and advanced reactors. Some models use something other than water for cooling, such as liquid metal, helium, or liquid salt. Developers say the advanced coolants allow the reactors to operate at low pressure, making them safer than conventional designs.
Russia and China are the only countries that already have advanced reactors in use.
The US is trying to boost new technology; The Energy Department announced the $900 million in funding in June. Bill Gates’ company, TerraPower, is the first in the United States to apply to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for a construction permit for an advanced reactor that would operate as a commercial nuclear power plant.
A reader had questions for the Associated Press about developing nuclear power. They wonder how next-generation reactors can be a climate solution, where the radioactive waste would end up, and above all, whether these new reactor designs are safe.
AP turned to the White House’s national climate advisor Ali Zaidi and experts from the Department of Energy and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to help answer these questions.
Q: Elizabeth M. of Bisbee, Arizona, said advanced nuclear power seems like a compromise that, despite its drawbacks, is the most practical and cleanest solution to America’s great energy appetite. We asked Zaid for his perspective on how these new reactors can be a climate solution.
Zaidi said the world must meet future energy needs “in a way that does not add to the problem of climate change.” Nuclear energy is one tool that can do that, he said.
“As we are in the midst of a climate crisis in a crucial decade for climate action, it is our responsibility to pull all tools aside and help harness these technologies in the race for the future,” Zaidi said.
Nuclear power plants do not emit the planet-warming greenhouse gases from power plants burning fossil fuels.
Q: At least one reader wondered about the timeline for these reactors coming online and complained about how long it takes to start up older plants.
Zaidi said the United States is working hard to make that happen “in this decade.” And he said the goal is “massive ramp-up and expansion of this technology” over the next 10 to 15 years.
The project furthest from Gates’ TerraPower applied for a building permit in March. The company has stated it wants to begin commercial operations in Wyoming in 2030. The NRC has a 27-month target for the technical review. If the NRC approves the project on this timeline, TerraPower could start generating electricity in the early 2030s if it takes about three years to build the plant and get a permit. But it is not certain. Other first nuclear power projects often faced delays and cost overruns.
Q: Many readers—including Jim M. of Manheim, Pennsylvania—wanted to know what would happen to the radioactive waste from the new reactors. The issue stems from the decades-long inability of the United States to find a place to store spent fuel from current and former nuclear power plants nationwide. Currently, spent fuel is stored at more than 70 locations in more than 30 states – sealed in steel-lined concrete water tanks or steel tanks known as dry storage tanks.
Acting Undersecretary for Nuclear Energy Michael Goff said that spent fuel from new reactors would be stored in the same places where it is used — the same situation as in the United States today — until a federal repository is operational.
Goff said spent fuel from new plants must be “stored, transported and disposed of” to meet the same NRC requirements for waste from existing plants. This basically means keeping it cool and protected.
The shape and composition of the fuel in some of the new reactors is different, meaning it may require technical changes to the way the fuel is packaged and stored, the Energy Department said.
Goff noted that nuclear fuel can be recycled into new fuel and byproducts, saying that “more than 90%” of its potential energy remains after the fuel has been used in the reactor for five years. The United States does not currently recycle any spent nuclear fuel, but Goff said other countries, including France, do. And he said some advanced U.S. reactor designs may “consume or operate on spent nuclear fuel” one day.
France’s nuclear industry reprocesses spent fuel to recover uranium and plutonium for reuse, reducing the amount of waste. Some radioactive materials or byproducts have commercial, medical, and academic uses. The United States has explored the possibility of commercial reprocessing of spent fuel, but has expected little interest from applicants for reprocessing facilities and is currently not encouraging it.
Q: Anne L. from East Bay, California, wants to know if these reactors have the same problems and dangers as large plants. He wasn’t the only reader to wonder about such risks as overloads or collapse.
Scott Burnell, a spokesman for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, said all U.S. nuclear power plants must meet the NRC’s safety standards, which show how they operate safely under normal conditions.
“They must also demonstrate that they can shut down safely and keep their fuel properly cooled under normal conditions and severe weather, earthquakes, plant system problems and other extreme events. Current reactors use pumps and backup power systems to stay safe; new designs can rely on natural processes such as gravity and convection, to stay safe,” he said.
Burnell said the latest designs suggest nuclear fuels and cooling features that reduce the already small chance of the fuel overheating or melting. The NRC requires that even these models account for extreme events and keep their fuel cooled and safe, he said.
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