Part 1 of 2 Parts
One of the biggest challenges in the nuclear power industry is keeping nuclear power construction on budget and on schedule. This problem must be resolved if advanced nuclear reactors are to play a major role in the energy transition away from fossil fuels. The National Academy of Science, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM) just issued a new report on this issue.
Richard A. Meserve is a former chair of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission who led the research team which produced the report. He said that many technical, regulatory, economic, and societal hurdles must be dealt with in order “to reach commercial and globally competitive viability”. Development, testing and widespread deployment of these reactors could take several decades. The U.S. should address these problems now.”
The new NASEM report says that advanced nuclear technologies will probably not contribute in a significant way until the 2030s at the earliest. However, they can compete with other energy technologies in the long run. Innovative, advanced reactors may supply on-demand power generation to complement more variable clean energy sources such as solar and wind power. They could also help decarbonize industrial sectors including hydrogen, steel and cement production.
One major problem is that U.S. utilities do not have adequate technical and engineering staff to manage a nuclear construction project. The U.S. Department of Energy (DoE) says that three hundred and seventy-five thousand skilled workers are required to reach the goal of two hundred gigawatts of new reactors to be deployed by 2030.
The authors of the NASEM report mention the need for the U.S. to form a “whole of government partnership” to identify gaps in critical skills required to support rapid deployment of advanced reactors and fund training to close them. Public and private developers must also to "take full advantage of existing efforts at commercial nuclear facilities and national labs that already have well-established training and workforce development infrastructure in place.”
For most of the history of nuclear power production in the U.S. and Europe, nuclear projects have not been constructed on budget and/or on schedule.
The report claims that “While it is vital to demonstrate that advanced reactors are viable from a technical perspective, it is perhaps even more vital to ensure that the overall plant, including the onsite civil work, can be built within cost and schedule constraints.” The report recommends that the DoE increase support for technologies that could streamline and reduce costs and expand R&D for nuclear construction.
Some advanced reactor vendors are investigating modular construction to improve schedules and reduce risks. However, the challenge of cost-effective onsite civil works remains, according to the report. It also recommends that nuclear owner-operators create a consortium or joint venture to more completely develop the skilled engineering staff to boost project construction.
Advanced reactor developers should also consider equity partnership with nuclear sector experienced engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractors for site-specific project planning, design and execution.
The prospect of using nuclear energy for purposes beyond electricity generation must also be addressed. In addition, there must be strong assurances of safety and security to gain critical buy-in from communities, according to the report.
Please read Part 2 next