Nuclear Reactrors 362 - U.S. Congress Interested In Stimulating New Nuclear Reactor Development
The U.S. market for nuclear power has been soft for the past few years especially since the Fukushima nuclear disaster. Cheap natural gas and oil have reduced the need for developing new power sources. Sustainable renewable sources such as wind and solar are becoming competitive with traditional fossil fuel power plants and are even cheaper in some cases than new nuclear power stations. With the volatile energy market and the end of guaranteed prices for long terms for the output of nuclear power plants, investors have been reluctant to support new nuclear power projects. However, there are signs that this trend may be reversing.
Bills supporting the reduction and streamlining of licensing and regulation of nuclear power facilities are currently being considered in both the House and the Senate. Nuclear power is being pushed as both a necessary energy source for future economic growth and a low-carbon energy source for combating climate change.
Investors are pouring millions of dollars into startups that are working to develop the next generation of massive power reactors. The new reactors need to be cheaper than the old models and safer to operate. Researchers are also working on creating small modular reactors that are touted as being cheaper, easier to build and safer than traditional nuclear power stations. There are at least six companies working on nuclear fusion reactors for power generation. There has not been so much activity in nuclear research in the U.S. private sector in decades.
Other countries are also working on developing new nuclear power systems. France is pushing their new European Pressurized Reactor design. Russia is building new reactors and working on developing a new generation of breeder reactors. China has a massive building program for its new internally designed and built reactor, the Hualong 1. It is also devoting significant funds to nuclear power research. Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft, has a start-up called Terra Power that just signed a deal with the Chinese. The approach of Terra Power calls for using a liquid sodium reactor to burn spent nuclear fuel from conventional reactors.
The international competition to develop new nuclear power systems has raised concerns in the U.S. Congress. Members of Congress do not want the U.S. to be left behind as other countries create new advanced nuclear power systems. There are calls for the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to speed-up the licensing procedure for new nuclear reactor designs. Congressmen would also like to see the U.S. government work with private companies on nuclear reactor research and development. This would include funding the construction of test reactors at federal laboratories that would be available to private companies for testing.
There is pushback from U.S. environmentalists against this surge of interest in developing new nuclear power systems. There is still no permanent geological repository for the spent nuclear fuel that is piling up at the existing nuclear power plants. There will have to be a massive program of building temporary dry cask storage at nuclear power plants or interim storage facilities in order to empty the spent fuel pools that are rapidly reaching their limit. They are also skeptical that cheaper, safer and more economical nuclear reactors can be designed and deployed in time to help with climate change mitigation. About half of the existing nuclear power reactors in the U.S. will reach the end of their licensed life-spans by 2040. Currently, it takes ten years or more to license a new nuclear power reactor and then it has to be constructed. The U.S. will need more power generation before that so other sources may be more inviting to investors and people working on the climate change problem.
