Part 2 of 2 Parts (Please read Part 1 first)
     The race is on for developers of small modular reactors (SMR) to find designs that the DoE could choose to build for up to ten units by 2025. Each reactor will have to generate between fifty and three hundred megawatts. The smaller, simpler project scale and standardization process management could result in the creation of a “playbook” for project construction. The DoE says “First-of-a-kind reactors may be expensive, but repeat deployments are expected to drive substantial cost reductions.”
     GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy, the Tennessee Valley Authority, Ontario Power Generation and Poland-based clean energy technology firm Synthos Green Energy have all signed a technical collaboration agreement to support global development of GE Hitachi’s BWRX-300 SMR.
     GE Hitachi has also awarded an engineering contract to BWX Technologies for the SMR reactor vessel. The vessel contains the reactor’s core and associated internals. It is the biggest component in the reactor. The project includes engineering analysis, design support, manufacturing, and procurement preparations. John MacQuarrie is president of BWXT Commercial Operations. He recently said that the company would be “one of the first to execute an SMR design contract for a North American deployment.”
     Site preparation is being undertaken for a BWRX-300 reactor to be constructed at Ontario Power’s Darlington nuclear power site in Clarington, Ontario. The TVA is also preparing a construction permit application for the reactor at the Clinch River site near Oak Ridge, Tennessee. It is investigating other possible SMR sites in its service area. Synthos Green Energy has submitted an application to Polish nuclear regulator to assess the design for the BWRX-300 reactor.
      Dow and X-energy have also agreed to demonstrate a four-unit Xe-100 advanced nuclear power plant that they claim would be the first at grid-scale for an industrial site. It will be located at a Dow plant on the Gulf of Mexico, the company said in March. Dow would become a sub-awardee under X-energy’s DoE-awarded Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program grant. This would represent a fifty/fifty cost share award of one-billion-dollars-plus to demonstrate the reactor.
     This project is expected to provide low-carbon power and steam to the Dow plant by 2030. A construction permit application will be submitted to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) with site selection expected before the end of 2023. The companies have also agreed to license and share technology as well as lessons learned from its development.
     The NRC also said in March that it had started its technical review of NuScale Power’s second standards SMR design. This new version has changes that improve it economics and expedite commercialization, according to John Hopkins, the CEO of NuScale. The company’s VOYGR SMR is a pressurized water reactor that can generate 77 megawatts of power and be scaled to satisfy customer needs.
     Even smaller micro-reactors are also gaining momentum. A new initiative known as Nuclear in District Energy Applications is being developed by the Electric Power Research Institute and a group of universities, energy developers and engineers that include Burns & McDonnell and Sargent and Lundy. This could result in nuclear energy being available as an option for the district energy market by 2026. There is also serious market potential for using small or micro nuclear reactors to charge heavy duty electric vehicles according to the Idaho National Laboratory.
     Westinghouse Electric Company recently said that it would file for joint design approval for its five-megawatt eVinci micro reactor for deployment in the U.S. and Canada. The eVinci is a transportable unit that can deliver combined heat and power. It is fully factory built, fueled, and assembled. The eVinci is designed to operate for eight years or more without refueling, the company added.

Ambient office = 117 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient outside = 123 nanosieverts per hour

Soil exposed to rain water = 126 nanosieverts per hour

Avocado from Central Market = 113 nanosieverts per hour

Tap water = 60 nanosieverts per hour

Filter water = 52 nanosieverts per hour

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

Ambient office = 119 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient outside = 99 nanosieverts per hour

Soil exposed to rain water = 100 nanosieverts per hour

Tomato from Central Market = 70 nanosieverts per hour

Tap water = 115 nanosieverts per hour

Filter water = 97 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient office = 75 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient outside = 128 nanosieverts per hour

Soil exposed to rain water = 132 nanosieverts per hour

Green onion from Central Market = 101 nanosieverts per hour

Tap water = 65 nanosieverts per hour

Filter water = 56 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient office = 106 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient outside = 119 nanosieverts per hour

Soil exposed to rain water = 119 nanosieverts per hour

Ginger root from Central Market = 70 nanosieverts per hour

Tap water = 79 nanosieverts per hour

Filter water = 63 nanosieverts per hour

Dover Sole from Central = 105 nanosieverts per hour