Recent Developments

Domestic:

1/12/21 – Power Engineering: Fluor, NuScale providing SMR nuclear services for Carbon-Free Power Project

• U.S. engineering, procurement and construction firm Fluor will provide its services for Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems’ Carbon-Free Power Project. The project includes plans for nuclear energy featuring NuScale’s small modular reactor design. “Fluor’s development agreement with UAMPS for its Carbon-Free Power Project is a monumental milestone toward providing clean load following, base load energy for UAMPS members using NuScale Power’s unique small modular reactor design,” said Alan Boeckmann, executive chairman of Fluor.

1/12/21 – EPRI: EPRI Names Rita Baranwal as New VP of Nuclear, Chief Nuclear Officer

• The Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) announced Dr. Rita Baranwal as its new Vice President of Nuclear Energy and Chief Nuclear Officer. Baranwal succeeds Neil Wilmshurst, who was promoted to Senior Vice President of Energy System Resources in November. Baranwal most recently served as the U.S. Energy Department's Assistant Secretary for its Office of Nuclear Energy, where she managed DOE's portfolio of nuclear research for existing and advanced reactors and new designs.

1/12/21 – Space News: White House executive order promotes development of space and defense nuclear power systems

• The Less than a month after issuing a policy directive on space nuclear power, the White House released an executive order Jan. 12 seeking to promote the development of small nuclear reactors for space and defense applications. The executive order, “Promoting Small Modular Reactors for National Defense and Space Exploration,” includes separate directions for NASA and the Defense Department to pursue small nuclear reactors for their uses, while cooperating on common technologies for those systems.

12/29/20 – Daily Energy Insider: Rep. Burgess introduces American Nuclear Leadership Commission Act

• The U.S. Rep. Michael Burgess (R-TX) introduced a bill that creates a bipartisan commission within the Department of Energy (DOE) to study the civilian nuclear power industry. The American Nuclear Leadership Commission Act directs the new commission to explore how a nuclear reactor is brought from development to commercialization as well as potential market opportunities for advanced reactors.

1/10/21 – Energy Central: Holtec Plans 160 MWe SMR at Oyster Creek NJ Nuclear Site

• Holtec International announced this week it is considering building a next-generation small modular reactor (SMR) at the site of the former Oyster Creek nuclear power station in New Jersey. Holtec is currently carrying out the D&D work at the closed nuclear reactor.

European/Global News:

[Ireland] 12/26/20 – Irish Examiner: Nuclear power “not ruled out” but no appetite for it in Ireland

• At a recent event on the European Green New deal, Eamon Ryan, Irish minister for the environment and climate and green party leader, remarked that Ireland has “not ruled out the possibility of nuclear power. Ryan added “I’ve always said I wouldn’t rule out if someone could show that there is a new form of nuclear power that fits in within this model and I see some things on design boards or drawing boards, but nothing in applications, and no rule scale of investment.” The event coincided with a preliminary study from an Irish think tank, 18for0, which argues that Ireland could completely eliminate fossil fuel consumption for electricity by reaching 18-percent nuclear penetration.

[UK] 1/12/21 – Nucnet: Costain Announces SMR Collaboration With U-Battery

• British construction and engineering group Costain is collaborating with U-Battery Developments Ltd to develop an advanced modular reactor which is being funded by the UK Department of Business. The initial scope of Costain’s work is to advise on the engineering design of the modular, offsite construction and installation methods that will ultimately mean the SMR can be competitively priced and deployed locally to meet demand. The U-Battery consortium, led by Urenco, aims to have its first reactor in operation by 2028.

[Romania] 1/15/21 – Nucnet: USTDA Awards $1.2 Million Grant For SMR Development

• The US Trade and Development Agency has awarded a $1.2m grant to Romania’s national nuclear energy company Societatea National Nuclearelectrica, to support the development of small modular reactor solutions in Romania. USTDA said its technical assistance will support Romania’s efforts to include SMR technology in its national energy strategy. The assistance will identify a short list of SMR-suitable sites, assess SMR technology options and develop site-specific licensing roadmaps. Nuclearelectrica has chosen Illinois-based Sargent & Lundy to carry out the assistance.

[UK/EU] 1/13/21 – Reuters: Final Brexit impact on nuclear supply chains remains unclear

• The United Kingdom’s end-of-year exit from the European Union came with an agreement over how to conduct nuclear related business, however the industry must wade through the fine print of the overarching free trade agreement (FTA) to access the full impact, experts say. EU members with a civil nuclear program are subject to the rights and obligations under the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom) Treaty, established in 1957, and while the UK is no longer bound to this, it has signed a Nuclear Cooperation Agreement (NCA) which closely tracks the older accord.

[UK] 1/16/21 – BBC News: Wylfa: New hybrid nuclear/wind power plan for Anglesey

• Small nuclear reactors and a wind farm could be built in north Wales under new plans from a UK energy firm. Shearwater Energy said it could build the hybrid plant for "less than £8bn" and start generating carbon-neutral power by late 2027. Shearwater said it had signed an understanding with US power firm NuScale for the modular reactors. Under the Shearwater bid, Wylfa would become home to 12 small modular reactors (SMR) initially capable of generating 924 Megawatt electric (MWe) - one million watts of electric capacity - alongside a 1,000 MW wind farm.

[EU] 1/18/21 – Euractiv: Brussels postponed green finance rules after 10 EU states wielded veto

• The European Commission was forced to delay publication of detailed implementing rules on the EU’s sustainable finance taxonomy because of the sheer number of comments received and a threat of blockage from eastern and southern EU member states. The EU executive published the draft implementing rules on 20 November, touting the proposal as “the world’s first-ever ‘green-list’” of economic activities aimed at encouraging private investments in the green economy. A public consultation on the draft rules – known as delegated acts – closed on 18 December with more than 46,591 answers received and thousands of pages of feedback. As a result, the final proposal, initially due to be published by 1 January, was delayed with no clear indication of when it will come out. Discussion appears to have been primarily concerning the taxonomy of natural gas.

[UK] 1/19/21 – S&P Global Platts: UK's 10-point plan 'lays path' to 78% cut in emissions by 2035: minister

• The UK's 10-point climate change plan has the policies to bridge the gap between the aspirations in the Committee on Climate Change's sixth carbon budget "and where we are now," Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Kwasi Kwarteng said Jan. 19. The minister acknowledged there was a gap between projections in December's Energy White Paper and the sixth carbon budget, but that Prime Minister Boris Johnson's 10-point plan on Nov. 18, 2020 had identified a range of initiatives to bridge the gap, including a 40 GW offshore wind target, a 5 GW hydrogen target, support for new nuclear and policies to drive the transition to electric mobility.

[Netherlands] 1/15/21 – Urenco: Urenco Nederlands Managing Director addresses Dutch Parliamentary committee about nuclear energy

• Urenco Nederlands Managing Director, Ad Louter, was one of 12 experts invited to present to a parliamentary round table discussion on nuclear energy in the Netherlands last month. Delivering a position paper and answering questions from Members of Parliament, Mr Louter spoke in his capacity as Nucleair Nederland (the Dutch nuclear industry association) Chairman and made a plea to create a level playing field for all low-carbon energy sources.

[Portugal] 1/8/21 – Euractiv: Deal on European climate law is ‘big priority’ for Portugal at EU helm

• Negotiations on the European Climate Law – including the bloc’s proposed 55% greenhouse gas reduction target for 2030 – are expected to wrap up before the end of June as Portugal makes a climate agreement the “big priority” of its six-month EU presidency, which started on 1 January.

[Czech Republic] 1/19/21 – Euractiv: Czech health minister backs coal mining phase-out ‘as soon as possible’

• The Czech government had plans to discuss the phase out coal one week after the article. A special coal commission already recommended in December to close down coal mines and power plants by 2038, but the final decision is up to the government.

[Sweden] 1/6/21 – Politico: Sweden splits over nuclear power

• Sweden faces a looming problem of electricity supply, but the country is divided over whether nuclear is part of the solution. The minority government, formed by the Social Democrats and the Greens, says clean means “renewable.” That implies using only hydro, solar and wind power, as outlined in Sweden’s current energy strategy. But Sweden's largest opposition parties, the Moderate Party and the far-right Sweden Democrats, say that's not enough. They define clean as “fossil free,” implying nuclear power could — and should — be part of the mix.

[UK] 1/21/21 – City A.M.: UK must commit to new nuclear power or risk energy shortfall, report says

• The government must commit to developing more nuclear capacity if the UK is to cope with the expected doubling of electricity demand by 2050, a new report has found. According to the Centre for Policy Studies, failure to invest in new nuclear power could see the UK forced to choose between hitting its net zero targets and keeping the lights on.

Source: The above is part of the US Department of Commerce’s SMR PPP Newsletter.