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A US organization calls for doubling the nuclear : Energy & Environment

A US organization calls for doubling the nuclear : Energy & Environment

US organisation calls for doubling of nuclear : Energy & Environment

14 April 2022

The Nuclear Innovation Alliance (NIA), a US think-tank, stated that Doubling America’s domestic nuclear energy production by 2020 is an “ambitious but possible” national goal that would help the USA achieve 100 percent clean energy. The organization is asking the US Department of Energy (DOE), to launch an Advanced Nuclear Energy Earthshot in its Energy Earthshots initiative.

Fission Vision outlines the blueprint of NIA to double US nuclear power (Image: NIA).

Judi Greenwald, Executive Director at the NIA, stated that “significant development of advanced nuclear technology is necessary for the United States in reaching mid-century goals in climate change,” on the release of Fission VisionThis is the blueprint for the organisation to achieve this goal.Fission VisionAnswers the question “What role could advanced nuclear power play in ensuring safe, reliable and affordable clean electricity?”

Fission VisionGreenwald stated that the US has three goals: to create an innovation and commercialisation environment in the USA; to ensure “social license” to operate advanced nuclear power; and to re-imagine and integrate advanced nuclear energy with other sources of clean energy. “If these objectives can be achieved – and we think they can – advanced reactors can play a major part in meeting our climate goals and doubling US nuclear power production by 2050,” Greenwald said.

The report notes that US decarbonisation means reducing carbon emissions from all aspects of the economy. This includes not only the electric grid but also transport and manufacturing. Low-carbon generating technologies like wind and solar have been deployed in increasing numbers in the past decade and will reduce emissions from fossil fuels, but these technologies alone will not suffice for an entire energy system which is a “complex web of production and consumption” that needs a dispatchable source of generation when “abundant but variable renewable energy isn’t available, and when safety, economic activity, and human health and comfort demand energy.”

Earthshot

 
Doubling nuclear energy production will catalyse deployment of advanced nuclear energy technologies and play a major role in transitioning the USA to 100% clean energy by 2050, the report says, with “crosscutting technical and policy leadership” from the DOE an essential first step towards realising that. It adds that the creation of an Advanced Nuclear Energy Earthshot at DOE, based on the DOE Earthshot Initiative model, could accelerate the US development and deployment of advanced nuclear energy technologies.

The DOE’s Energy EarthshotThe s Initiative was launched in June 2021 in order to accelerate breakthroughs in more affordable, reliable, and abundant clean energy solutions. The first, Hydrogen Shot, aims to lower the cost of hydrogen by 80% to USD1 per kilogram in a decade. In July, Long Duration Storage shot was launched. Carbon Negative shot focuses on innovative technologies that remove CO2 from the atmosphere. In total, 6 to 8 Energy Earthshots are planned.

Use the DOE’s Earthshots Model to organize a cross-cutting approach to dramatically reduce nuclear project timelines and costs. Fission Vision says:

“An Advanced Nuclear Energy Earthshot would combine DOE activities across multiple dimensions. It would combine DOE Office of Nuclear Energy’s more traditional R&D activities with demonstrations at the new Office of Clean Energy Demonstration and innovative financing through Loan Programs Office. It would also commercialise and test capabilities of national laboratories. It would incorporate innovation efforts from both the front and back ends of the fuel cycle. It would combine advanced reactor innovations with supply chain innovation. It would also integrate DOE’s efforts with the broader innovation and commercialisation ecosystem that includes a wide array of private companies. This will likely require DOE develop new skills, new financing and contracting mechanisms, and new partnerships. It also requires DOE to better utilize existing ones.

“DODE would help to create the conditions necessary for success by creating an Advanced Nuclear Energy Erdshot.” Fission Vision.”

Researched by World Nuclear News and written by them



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