NEI Nuclear Notes

For more than 100 years, the shape and location of human settlements has been defined in large part by energy and water. Cities grew up near natural resources like hydropower, and near water for agricultural, industrial and household use. So what would the world look like with a new generation of small nuclear reactors that could provide abundant, clean energy for electricity, water pumping and desalination and industrial processes? Hard to say with precision, but Third Way , the non-partisan think tank, asked the design team at the Washington, D.C. office of Gensler & Associates , an architecture and interior design firm that specializes in sustainable projects like a complex that houses the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys. The talented designers saw a blooming desert and a cozy arctic village, an old urban mill re-purposed as an energy producer, a data center that integrates solar panels on its sprawling flat roofs, a naval base and a humming transit hub. In the converted mill, high ...

Russ Bell The following is a guest post from Russ Bell, senior director of new plant licensing at NEI. There was a positive vibe at this year’s NRC Regulatory Information Conference (RIC), which took place in Rockville, MD, on March 8-10. Held annually, “the RIC” is the largest conference of nuclear energy professionals in the world. RIC sessions cover numerous topics du jour, including justifiable pride by regulators and industry alike in the safety improvements made in the wake of the earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear emergency that occurred at Fukushima-Daiichi; anticipation of second license renewals that will further extend the useful life of our operating fleet of 100 reactors; and excitement about new, advanced design nuclear plants. The future was a recurring theme of the 2016 RIC. While we can’t predict the future, there are a few things we can say for sure: The demand for electricity and the myriad benefits it brings will continue to grow. Demands will increase fo...

Matt Wald The following is a guest post from Matt Wald, senior director of policy analysis and strategic planning at NEI. Matt joined us in  April after 38 years at The New York Times. Anybody who is anybody, was anybody or will be anybody in the nuclear world is likely to turn up at the Nuclear Energy Assembly. Engineers, executives, policy makers, vendors and experts from home and abroad will give presentations or listen to them, or engage in a lot of off-the-floor side conversations about what is going on in the industry, and how it fits into the larger energy world. Many of the speakers come from outside the industry. And there will be the annual informal competition where industry veterans try to stump each other with acronyms. Reactors are coming (Watts Bar 2, Vogtle and Summer) and going (Vermont Yankee, San Onofre and Kewaunee) and there is likely to be something interesting to be heard about all of them. The future – small modular reactors, fast reactors, and...

Dr. Leslie Dewan Later this morning, the House Science Committee will hold a hearing on the "Future of Nuclear Energy" . Click here to watch the hearing live on UStream at 10:00 a.m. Featured on the witness list is a name that our readers will be familiar with - Dr .Leslie Dewan of Transatomic Power . She was kind enough to pass along a copy of her testimony so we could preview it for you right now. We've gotten to know Dr. Dewan very well over the past year thanks to her role in NEI's Future of Energy campaign . Transatomic is developing a new reactor that's designed to burn used nuclear fuel . It's an incredibly promising new technology, but one that Dr. Dewan is concerned won't come to market first in the U.S. because of regulatory hurdles. It was just those sort of challenges that led the Bill Gates nuclear startup Terrapower to decide to build their first prototype in China : The commercial nuclear regulatory structure in the United State...

If you’re passing through the mid-Atlantic the first part of October to see the magnificent foliage points west and north you may consider dropping by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission complex in world-famous Rockville, Maryland, Thursday & Friday, October 8-9, for what promises to be a fascinating Workshop on potential applications for small- and medium-sized (a.k.a. modular, innovative, green) nuclear reactors. NRC’s announcement quotes its Advanced Reactor Program director Mike Mayfield: We’re going to examine how these ‘small’ reactor vendors would need to address the NRC’s requirements in areas including safety, security, decommissioning and emergency preparedness. This meeting will help us and our stakeholders determine what issues need more clarification and get everyone’s expectations on the same page. The NRC invites the public to participate throughout the workshop, which also will cover applications other than producing electricity, such as providing heat for industria...