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SALT LAKE CITY — One of the most significant reforms in the energy arena passed Congress with bipartisan support and is designed to jump-start the deployment of next generation nuclear technology to help shore up the nation's energy grid.
ADVANCE is the acronym for Accelerating Deployment of Versatile, Advanced Nuclear for Clean Energy signed into law recently by President Joe Biden.
According to the U.S. Department of Energy, the law will accelerate nuclear energy at a pace not witnessed since the 1970s.
"The ADVANCE Act directs the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to reduce certain licensing application fees and authorizes increased staffing for NRC reviews to expedite the process," the agency said.
"It also introduces prize competitions that the U.S. Department of Energy can award to incentivize deployment," it added.
While the awards are subject to congressional appropriations, they are anticipated to cover the total costs assessed by the NRC for "first movers" in a variety of areas, including the first advanced reactor, to receive an operating or combined license.
Another facet of the bill is its focus on small reactor technologies, known as microreactors.
These compact reactors will be small enough to fit on a semitruck and can be deployed around the country, including remote locations and military bases for reliable heat and power.
The ADVANCE Act directs the NRC to develop guidance to license and regulate microreactor designs within 18 months. It also eliminates costs associated with pre-application activities and early site permits at DOE sites or other locations that are critical to national security.
Both of those particular designs should expedite the demonstration and deployment of two microreactor projects that are being pursued by the U.S. military.
Alaska's Eielson Air Force Base plans to build a microreactor at its site as early as 2027. The Defense Department is also gearing up to demonstrate a high-temperature gas reactor design at Idaho National Laboratory around the same time frame.
Company executives and the industry hailed the passage of ADVANCE, according to information contained in Utility Dive.
A press statement from Nuclear Innovation Alliance executive director Judi Greenwald called the legislation "a major step forward in advanced nuclear innovation."
The bill will "support efforts to further modernize the NRC as it prepares to review an ever-increasing number of applications for subsequent license renewals, power uprates and next-generation nuclear deployments," Nuclear Energy Institute President and CEO Maria Korsnick said in a separate statement.
Executives at NANO Nuclear Energy, a microreactor technology developer, had this to say:
"A major killer of (nuclear projects) is that lengthy licensing process," which can end up costing more than the physical reactor itself, said James Walker, NANO Nuclear Energy chief executive officer and head of reactor development.
Utah's nuclear connections
What was once hailed as a way to shift from coal to carbon free emissions — the Carbon Free Power Project — has been put on hold for now. Installation of small modular reactors at the Idaho National Reactor to power some Utah communities and districts got caught up in licensing delays, even though the company, NuScale, was the first in the United States to receive design certification from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Critics did say it was unwise to put ratepayers on the hook for funding what they described as unproven technology, but the Oregon-based company has successfully inked contracts with multiple foreign players.
As the nation shifts away from coal due to regulatory pressures and pollution concerns, the Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems proposed a 12-module, 720-megawatt NuScale SMR plant at the Idaho National Laboratory about two hours north of Salt Lake City to provide a source of base load power to its members.
Mike Squires, managing director of governmental affairs for the Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems, said ADVANCE represents a shifting tide of political and public support for the need to pursue next-generation nuclear energy technology as a viable source of carbon free emissions.
"I mean when we think about it, we were the furthest along in U.S. history, and there were a lot of projects that haven't reached the milestone that we had in that advanced reactor space," Squires said.
The Carbon Free Power Project did serve as a sort of tutorial on where efficiencies can be improved, he added.
"The general idea of reducing the financial cost of getting that technology license is a huge win," he said. The act does streamline that process while not eroding protections that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has in place, Squires said.
There are other projects on the horizon as well.
PacifiCorp has said it is pursuing sodium fast reactors to place where existing coal-fired power plants are in Utah's Emery County and elsewhere.
A 345-megawatt sodium fast reactor is under development in a demonstration project in Kemmerer, Wyoming, where TerraPower aims to prove its technology through a multibillion-dollar public-private partnership.
Critics of nuclear energy cite waste storage issues as well as potential safety threats posed by radiation.
The Department of Energy points out on its website that U.S. commercial reactors have generated about 90,000 metric tons of spent fuel since the 1950s. If all of it were able to be stacked together, it could fit on a single football field at a depth of less than 10 yards.
