Siting a nuclear power plant at the site of a recently retired coal power plant is referred to a coal-to-nuclear (C2N) transition. Such conversions could help increase the U.S. nuclear capacity to over three hundred and fifty gigawatts. The U.S. Department of Energy (DoE) report on C2N conversions is titled Investigating Benefits and Challenges of Converting Retiring Coal Plants into Nuclear Plants. The current U.S. nuclear reactor fleet has a combined capacity of ninety-five gigawatts.
The new report is supported by a previous study carried out by the Argonne, Idaho and Oak Ridge National Laboratories, sponsored by the DOE Office of Nuclear Energy. It was guided by three questions. First, where in the U.S. are retired coal facilities located and what factors make a site feasible for transition? Second, what factors of technology, cost and project timelines drive investor economics over such a decision? Third, how will C2N impact local communities?
The researchers screened recently retired and active coal plants to identify one hundred and fifty-seven retired and 237 operating coal plants as potential candidates for a C2N transition. These sites were then evaluated on parameters including population density, distance from seismic fault lines, flooding potential, and nearby wetlands in order to determine if they could safely host a nuclear power plant. The study found that eighty percent of the potential sites are suitable for hosting advanced nuclear power plants of various sizes and types. This will depend on the size of the site being converted.
The team then evaluated a case study of detailed impacts and potential outcomes of a hypothetical site. They considered various nuclear technology types for a range of scenarios including big light-water reactors, small modular reactors, sodium cooled fast reactors and very high temperature reactors.
At the regional level, replacing a big coal plant site with a nuclear power plant of equivalent size could provide some six hundred and fifty jobs and two hundred and seventy million dollars of economic activity. These jobs are distributed across the plant, the supply chain supporting the plant and the community surrounding the plant. Most typically come with wages that are about twenty five percent higher than any other energy technology. Nuclear power plant projects could also benefit from preserving existing experienced workforces in communities around the retiring coal plant sites. These workers already possess the necessary skills and knowledge that could be transitioned to work at a nuclear power plant.
Repurposing existing coal infrastructure for new advanced nuclear reactors can lead to construction cost savings of fifteen to thirty five percent. Using existing land, grid connections, office buildings, electrical equipment such as transmission connections and switchyard and civil infrastructure could also save millions of dollars.
Economic potential exists for owners of coal power plants and the communities in which they are located to benefit from a C2N transition. There would be future advantage for interested coal communities to be “first movers” in what the authorities say could possibly be a series of many C2N transitions across the U.S. Although the findings of the study inform only at a general level, the results could be used to generate more detailed, in-depth analyses to allow more accurate evaluations specific to a particular coal plant or nuclear technology design.
The report was subjected to independent peer review by experts in systems engineering and regional economic modeling to validate analysis and assumptions.
The possibility of replacing coal power plants with nuclear power plants is being actively explored in the U.S. and elsewhere. In 2021, TerraPower announced plans to build a demonstration unit of its Natrium sodium-cooled fast reactor at a retired coal plant site in Wyoming. Earlier this year, the Maryland Energy Administration announced its support for work to evaluate the possibility of repurposing a coal-fired electric-generating facility with X-energy’s Xe-1 small modular reactor. Holtec International recently mentioned that it is considering coal plant sites as possible locations for its SMR-160 with plans to bring the first unit online as early as 2029. In Poland, NuScale is collaborating with energy company Unimot and copper and silver producer KGHM to explore possibilities for its reactor to replace coal-fired power plants.