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DOE Launches Program to Demonstrate Advanced Nuclear Reactors Within 5 Years

May 14, 2020

The post DOE Launches Program to Demonstrate Advanced Nuclear Reactors Within 5 Years appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Bolstered by $ 230 million in Congressionally appropriated funding, the Department of Energy (DOE) has officially launched the Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program (ARDP) to help U.S.-based private developers of advanced nuclear reactors demonstrate their technology in the U.S.

Much anticipated by industry, the program formally established under the Office of Nuclear Energy program on May 14 is one of three major government-led and Congressionally supported initiatives to boost U.S. nuclear energy research and development. Congress has also appropriated $ 305 million for fuel cycle research and development, and $ 267 million for reactor concepts research, including for the industry-led Advanced Reactor Concepts program and the Versatile Advanced Test Reactor.

The National Reactor Innovation Center at Idaho National Laboratory provides resources for testing, demonstration, and performance assessment to accelerate deployment of new advanced nuclear technology concepts. These are some milestones and a tentative timeline the facility could achieve over the next decade.

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Nuclear Reactor with 3D-Printed Core Slated for Operation in 2023

May 12, 2020

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A first-of-its-kind nuclear reactor that will use a 3D-printed core, advanced materials, and integrated sensors and controls is on track for completion by 2023.

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, work is ramping up to demonstrate the Transformational Challenge Reactor (TCR), an innovative micro-reactor program spearheaded by Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and project partners, to include Idaho National Laboratory, Argonne National Laboratory, and industry participants. On May 11, ORNL announced the project has completed several “foundational” experiments, including selection of a core design. During a recent three-month “sprint,” it also demonstrated the “agility of the additive manufacturing technology” to quickly produce a prototype reactor core.

The development is notable for the project that got its start only 15 months ago, when it received $ 30 million from the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Office of Nuclear Energy. “We have been aggressively developing the capability to make this program a reality over the last several months, and our effort has proven that this technology is ready to demonstrate a 3D-printed nuclear reactor core,” said Kurt Terrani, the TCR technical director.…

Is Vogtle Nuclear Expansion on Schedule? CEO Sounds Confident

May 2, 2020

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The post Is Vogtle Nuclear Expansion on Schedule? CEO Sounds Confident appeared first on POWER Magazine.

“We still expect to meet the November regulatory-approved in-service dates for both Units 3 and 4,” Southern Company CEO Tom Fanning said during the company’s first quarter earnings call on April 30. The in-service dates he was referring to are November 2021 and November 2022 for Units 3 and 4, respectively, at the Vogtle nuclear expansion project near Waynesboro, Georgia. The project is owned by four partners: Southern Company subsidiary Georgia Power (45.7%), Oglethorpe Power Corp. (OPC, 30%), Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia (MEAG Power, 22.7%), and Dalton Utilities (1.6%).

Furthermore, Fanning said site managers continue to believe they can hit target dates set in the company’s “Aggressive Site Workplan,” which are May 2021 and May 2022, respectively. “Is it riskier than it was before? Yeah. But it’s still a reasonable objective; otherwise, we wouldn’t stick with it,” said Fanning.

Significant Progress Made on Both New Vogtle Units

About two weeks ago, Southern Company announced it would reduce the workforce on the project by 20% in an effort to mitigate the impacts of COVID-19.…

Nuclear Fuel Working Group Outlines How U.S. Could Regain Global Leadership

April 24, 2020

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The U.S. will attempt to regain its international standing as a world leader in nuclear energy through a three-pronged strategy that will essentially seek to strengthen the full domestic nuclear fuel cycle, possibly deny imports of nuclear fuel fabricated in Russia or China, and promote advanced reactor technologies.

The strategy is outlined in the White House’s Nuclear Fuel Working Group’s (NFWG’s) long-awaited findings released on April 23 in its report, “Restoring America’s Competitive Nuclear Advantage: A Strategy to Assure U.S. National Security.” President Trump convened the group, which includes representatives from various executive branch agencies, in July 2019 after the Department of Commerce in May 2019 found that uranium imports posed a threat to national security. The NFWG was tasked with examining domestic nuclear fuel production and options to revive the entire nuclear fuel supply chain.

Strong Emphasis on the Front-End of the Nuclear Cycle

The NFWG report, which Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette described as a “roadmap” in a call with reporters on Thursday, sets out three key priorities.…

COVID-19 May Delay Vogtle Nuclear Expansion

April 2, 2020

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Southern Co. in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on April 1 said the COVID-19 pandemic “could disrupt or delay construction, testing, supervisory and support activities” at the Plant Vogtle nuclear expansion project in Georgia.

The company in the filing said, “It is too early to determine what impact, if any, the COVID-19 outbreak will have on the current construction schedule or budget” for the two new nuclear reactors at the site near Waynesboro, Georgia. Southern said state and federal government actions designed to slow the spread of the virus, such as stay-at-home or shelter-in-place orders, could bring disruptions to both the labor pool and supply chains.

The company said effects of the coronavirus pandemic “could disrupt or delay construction, testing, supervisory and support activities at Plant Vogtle Units 3 and 4.”

John Kraft, a spokesperson for Georgia Power, the lead utility on the project, told POWER on Wednesday that “Construction work continues at the site under continuing enhanced protocols designed to reduce worker-to-worker contact and keep areas that workers frequent, cleaned and sanitized. …

Pennsylvania Move to Join RGGI May Save Nuclear Plant

March 17, 2020

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Energy Harbor Corp., the new name for the former FirstEnergy Solutions (FES) after FES’s bankruptcy, on March 13 said its Beaver Valley nuclear plant in Shippingport, Pennsylvania, will remain open. FES in March 2018 had told state regulators it would close the plant in 2021 because it was no longer economic to operate.

Energy Harbor President and CEO John Judge said the decision to keep the plant open came after Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf said the state would join the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), a program for capping and decreasing carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions from the power generation sector that currently includes 10 states in the U.S. Northeast and mid-Atlantic.

Energy Harbor, headquartered in Akron, Ohio, was announced as the new name for FES in late February. The company while operating as FES was the unregulated power generation arm of FirstEnergy Corp.;…