Welcome back! In this week’s issue, we kick off 2022 by discussing the recent U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission's denial of the Oklo combined license application, and the serious questions that the event raises concerning the deployment of advanced nuclear in the years to come. We also spotlight an announcement from the MacArthur Foundation granting $21.3 million to 28 organizations under its Nuclear Challenges capstone project. PGS is one of the recipients for its pioneering work on the nexus of nuclear energy, climate change, and global security. Finally, we highlight the latest debate surrounding the European Union’s sustainable finance taxonomy and its likely inclusion of nuclear energy.

This year we will be introducing an update to the Nuclear News and Views newsletter. The commentary section will regularly include graphics covering a noteworthy topic or trend instead of the traditional written commentary. Please send us your feedback on this communications evolution and thank you for your readership!

For heralded micro-reactor rising star, Oklo, when that rubber hit the road it went flat.

Last week the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission denied the company’s license application for “failure to provide information” related to “key” safety features of its Aurora reactor design. The NRC invited Oklo to reapply and provide the requested missing information, meaning the design is not rejected, just shelved for the moment.

In mid-2020, Oklo was the first to submit, and have accepted by the NRC, an historic combined construction and operating license application for an advanced reactor. It has stated that it intends to continue to move forward with the process despite this setback.

So far, no one inside the administration has made a public statement responding to Oklo’s punctured ambitions, despite its financial promotion of the technology.

Instead, this faltering of new nuclear technology has thrilled its opponents and roused their anticipation of more failure. Already, in 2017, the claims for Transatomic's molten salt reactor, also a hyped start-up, melted down under serious scrutiny.

It seems bizarre that there could be delight at the potential failure of a major zero-carbon energy source when 2021 was one of the hottest years on record, but we live in an era of incomprehensible ideological irrationality.

However, there are thoughtful criticisms of the agency and whether it is adequately modernizing its licensing requirements to meet new realities. There also are expert recommendations for how to streamline licensing reviews for next-gen nuclear technologies without compromising quality. Even the Congress has directed the NRC to develop a better licensing framework for advanced reactors.

This is a crucial geopolitical competition, especially for an administration that is facing heightened aggressiveness from Russia and is locked in a fight for technological supremacy with China.

It’s importance is further intensified by the coming carbon tsunami from about two dozen developing economy nations. The response to this building wave of greenhouse gasses is expansive low-carbon energy, including new nuclear.

The U.S. is investing billions of dollars in a technology and infrastructure support system for next-gen reactors with even more parked in the moribund Build Back Better bill.

Finance is the Achilles Heel of nuclear power. The almost certain decision of the European Union to include nuclear energy in its green investment portfolio provides cover to a financial community concerned with ESG investing to reconsider nuclear power. This could be the foundation of a powerful private-public partnership.

The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation has announced $21.3 million in grants to 28 organizations, including the Partnership for Global Security, as part of its Nuclear Challenges capstone project. This capstone project will support diversity in the nuclear field, challenge nuclear deterrence theory, provide leadership at the nexus of nuclear and climate issues, and preserve organizations critical to the nuclear dialogue. This comes as MacArthur announced its plans to exit the nuclear field at the conclusion of the project in 2023. 

Vietnam has announced that it plans to revive a project to build a nuclear research reactor with Russian assistance. The project—which includes Russian-designed research reactors, a multipurpose cyclotron, and research laboratories—is estimated to be constructed by the end of 2024.

GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy (GEH), BWXT Canada, and Polish firm Synthos Green Energy (SGE) have signed a Letter of Intent to cooperate in the deployment of GEH’s BWRX-300 small modular reactors (SMRs) in Poland. The companies plan to deploy at least 10 BWRX-300 SMRs by the early 2030s, targeting the first to be operational in 2029.

Hyundai Engineering Company and Ultra Safe Nuclear Corporation (USNC) have signed an investment and strategic business cooperation agreement. The agreement includes exclusive engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) rights to USNC micro modular reactor (MMR) projects for Hyundai, and a $30 million investment in USNC.

Last year the Institute of Nuclear Materials Management (INMM) and the European Safeguards Research & Development Association (ESARDA) held an Industry Perspectives Plenary at the Joint Annual Meeting. PGS President Ken Luongo, alongside colleagues from the World Nuclear Association & Nuscale Power, discussed the necessity for collaboration between government, industry, and global civil society to accelerate the deployment of new nuclear energy. 

The European Commission (EC) has delayed its decision on the inclusion of nuclear energy and natural gas projects under the European Union’s sustainable finance taxonomy until later this month. The taxonomy debate has reignited major disagreement, with Germany—and other EU nations such as Spain and Austria—criticizing the proposal as “greenwashing.” Alternatively, the Czech Republic, Finland, Hungary, and France advocate for the inclusion of nuclear energy.

Germany has shut down half of the nation’s six operational nuclear power plants (NPPs), as part of its nuclear energy phase-out policy. This is being done as the German climate minister states that the nation faces a “gigantic” task and is not on track with its target to reduce emissions by 65% by 2030.

Polish company Polskie Elektrownie Jadrowe (PEJ) has selected a site for Poland’s first NPP at Lubiatowo-Kopalino in the Pomorskie province. An environmental impact statement (EIS) will be submitted to the General Director of Environmental Protection in quarter one of 2022, with the goal of an operational NPP in 2033.

The new Czech government has published its policy program that aims to phase out coal production by 2033. The government plans to increase the nation’s share of nuclear and renewable energy and has cited that its support for nuclear and renewable energy is “a priority.”

China National Nuclear Corporation has announced the connection of Unit 1 of the Shidaowan nuclear power plant (NPP) to the grid in December, marking the first deployment of a high-temperature gas-cooled reactor (HTGR) with a pebble-bed module into operation. Both Units of the Shidaowan NPP are expected to enter commercial operation by the end of June 2022.

China’s second Hualong One demonstration unit at the Fuqing NPP has officially begun supplying electricity to the grid in the Fujian province this month. The first demonstration unit, Fuqing Unit 5 entered commercial operation in January 2021. 

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has dismissed Oklo Power’s license application for its Aurora 1.5 MW fast neutron reactor. After the 22-month process, the NRC stated that the application “contain[s] significant information gaps in its description of Aurora’s potential accidents as well as its classification of safety systems and components.” The regulatory agency’s decision is not a rejection of the Aurora design and it has invited Oklo to submit the additional information.

Senators Joe Manchin (D-WV) and John Barrasso (R-WY) have introduced a bill entitled “Fission for the Future” to support the deployment of advanced nuclear reactors in communities that have been impacted by the retirement of fossil fuel facilities.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has launched the Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations to support carbon-free technology projects related to advanced nuclear, direct air carbon capture, energy storage, green hydrogen, and industrial emissions removal. Of the $31.5 billion in federal funding, $2.5 billion will be for advanced nuclear reactor demonstration projects. 

China has reported that its Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST) fusion reactor sustained a fission reaction for over 17 minutes, a new world record. This milestone “lays a solid scientific and experimental foundation towards the running of a fusion reactor.”

Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) has licensed its 3D printing methodology for components in nuclear reactors to USNC. USNC plans to incorporate this additive manufacturing technique to support the deployment of its advanced reactor designs.

In a new Foreign Affairs article, authors Toby Dalton and Ariel Levite of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace discuss the state of the global nonproliferation regime and the signs of a system slowly becoming undone. The authors discuss some of the upcoming challenges facing the nonproliferation regime and what needs to be done to restore its role as a "bulwark of global stability."

The DOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) has published its annual report, “Prevent, Counter, and Respond—NNSA’s Plan to Reduce Global Nuclear Threats,’ outlining the NNSA’s activities and key priorities for the fiscal year 2022 to 2026 in mitigating the risk of nuclear terrorism and proliferation. Of the key activities noted by the NNSA, the annual report also acknowledges its role in “enabling the development of nuclear energy and other peaceful uses of nuclear technology that will help support the efforts to combat climate change.”

The UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) has released a report entitled “Life Cycle Assessment of Electricity Generation Options,” which analyzes the full lifecycle environmental cost of various electricity sources, including wind, solar, coal, gas, hydro, and nuclear. The study finds that nuclear energy has the smallest environmental impact—related to greenhouse gas emissions (GHG), human toxicity, water use, and other environmental and health metrics—out of all the sources studied.

In a new report from the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), the authors discuss four conceptual deployment scenarios for advanced nuclear reactors, examining how advanced nuclear heat sources can be configured, fabricated, and delivered to decarbonize global fuel and other commodity markets. 

‘A Global View of the Nuclear Industry in 2022: The Need for Collaboration’

‘Save the nukes?’

‘Can Data Centers Take Control of Clean Energy?’

‘Nuclear Power Gets a Fresh Look as Nations Chase Climate Goals’

‘Key nuclear treaty review plagued by COVID delays as distrust grows’

‘Is Nuclear Power Part of the Climate Solution?’

‘Viewpoint: Nuclear energy is critical to Africa's agenda for sustainable development’

‘Crypto miners look to nuclear power’

‘NPEC Asks Administration to Curb Its “Advanced” Reactor Enthusiasm’

‘Germany’s anxiety about nuclear energy is leading to nonsensical policy’

‘12 Priority Markets for Advanced Nuclear Technology’

‘3 Reasons Nuclear Power Has Returned to the Energy Debate’

‘Climate Ripe for Nuclear Advancements’

‘European Union Goes Green for Nuclear Energy’

‘A Ukraine Invasion Could Go Nuclear: 15 Reactors Would Be In War Zone’

‘Nuclear energy scares people. The climate crisis is giving it another chance’

‘Canada’s first new nuclear reactor in decades is an American design. Will it prompt a rethink of government support?’

‘Nuclear and hydropower plants provide most zero-emission electricity in the U.S.’

‘Nuclear Power Has a Second Chance to Prove Itself’