A $900 million funding alternative launched by the Division of Power (DOE) on Oct. 16 seeks to spur “first mover” groups that would deploy the primary two Gen III+ gentle water small modular reactors (SMRs) within the U.S. It’s going to additionally present funding for “quick follower” deployment help by addressing important gaps which have lengthy hindered the nuclear trade.
Purposes are due by Jan. 17, 2025, for the funding alternative created by the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2024. The funding alternative will use funds from the 2021-enacted Infrastructure Funding and Jobs Act (IIJA). The funding alternative announcement (FOA), managed by the DOE’s Workplace of Clear Power Demonstrations and the Workplace of Nuclear Power, is structured in two tiers.
The majority of the funding is designated for Tier 1, which can present as much as $800 million to 2 “first mover” groups of utility, reactor vendor, constructor, and end-users/off-takers dedicated to deploying a primary plant “whereas facilitating a multireactor, Gen III+ SMR orderbook.” Below the 10-year award length, Tier 1 groups can have the chance to work with the Nationwide Nuclear Safety Administration (NNSA) to include safeguards and safety by design into the initiatives, the DOE stated.
Tier 2 will present as much as $100 million “to spur extra Gen III+ SMR deployments by addressing key gaps which have hindered the home nuclear trade in areas resembling design, licensing, provider improvement, and web site preparation.”
Deal with ‘First Mover’ Initiatives
The DOE’s $900 million funding award centered on Gen III+ SMRs distinctly champions the event of single-unit gentle water reactors (LWRs) with energy outputs of between 50 MWe and 350 MWe as a part of a single-unit or multi-unit plant (with no restrictions on whole energy plant output). Gen III+ SMRs usually maximize manufacturing unit fabrication approaches and embody “vital enhancements in comparison with reactors working on December 27, 2020,” the DOE says.
The funding pathway follows the DOE’s $4 billion 2020-initiated Superior Reactor Demonstration Program (ARDP) for Gen IV applied sciences. The ARDP program has doled out a number of awards. It is at present fostering two vital superior nuclear demonstrations: TerraPower’s Natrium Kemmerer 1 project in Wyoming, and X-energy’s four-unit 320-MWe Xe-100 superior nuclear reactor facility at a Dow chemical supplies manufacturing web site in Seadrift, Calhoun County, Texas.
In keeping with the DOE’s FOA launched on Wednesday, eligible Tier 1 candidates should embody a U.S. business utility because the lead group, teamed with a Gen III+ SMR expertise vendor and an engineering, procurement, and building (EPC) contractor. The initiatives should intention to finish last design and licensing approvals by the early 2030s.
To qualify for funding, initiatives should exhibit technological maturity for his or her designs at a Expertise Readiness Degree (TRL) of 6 or larger, indicating they need to be nearer to finalization and prepared for procurement and building actions. Initiatives should even be able to securing neighborhood and regulatory help, finishing important licensing steps with the Nuclear Regulatory Fee (NRC), and offering a technique for financing the reactor mission. The FOA, notably, underscores the necessity for candidates to exhibit substantial progress in pre-application engagement with the NRC to make sure the mission will proceed easily by the mandatory allowing, certification, and building phases.
The DOE stated funding will probably be allotted in phases primarily based on milestones: $200 million in fiscal yr 2024, $300 million in fiscal yr 2025, and as much as $300 million in fiscal yr 2026. Extra funding “plus attainable in-kind help” will probably be primarily based on milestones and funding splits between the awards.
Tier 2 funding can have an award length of as much as 5 years, with $100 million cut up between a number of awards, and focuses on three key areas: web site choice and preparation, provide chain improvement, and mission enchancment.
Tier 2.1 seeks to help “deliberate U.S. homeowners or utilities” in decreasing dangers related to Gen III+ SMR siting by conducting web site characterization, feasibility research, or acquiring Early Website Permits. Tier 2.2 targets home entities aiming to boost the nuclear provide chain’s functionality, capability, and value competitiveness, together with efforts to accumulate essential certifications and develop modular fabrication capabilities. Lastly, Tier 2.3 focuses on bettering the accuracy of mission value and schedule estimates for SMR deployments. Challenge groups should submit detailed value estimates and schedules for impartial assessment.
The DOE stated it expects its award contribution to “by no means exceed 50% of whole mission value.” At each cut-off date from the initiation of the award, “the applicant should have contributed not less than 50% of the whole mission prices incurred from the time of award. The DOE requires that purposes embody proposed milestones with outlined work scope and associated milestone funds and to incorporate of their utility a mission spend plan that reveals the whole anticipated mission value on the time of every milestone completion.” The company expects to assessment and consider the purposes to make sure that the requested milestone funds adhere to the requirement.
A Concerted Effort to Alleviate Hurdles for New Nuclear
In keeping with the DOE, the solicitation will create a “credible and sustainable pathway to fleet-level deployment of Gen III+ SMRs.” The push for SMRs comes amid DOE estimates that the U.S. will want “roughly 700-900 GW of extra clear, agency energy technology capability to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.”
“Designed with a wide range of capabilities, sizes, and deployment situations in thoughts, SMRs can be utilized for energy technology, course of warmth, desalination, and extra,” it stated. “Particularly, SMRs provide the potential for better modularity, extra factory-style building, and the flexibility to be matched with masses and scaled to fulfill demand. Moreover, Gen III+ SMRs could possibly revitalize and leverage the experience, workforce, and provide chains supporting the present fleet of enormous light-water reactor designs, thus offering a near-term path for brand spanking new nuclear deployments and operation.”
Regardless of these benefits, the DOE outlines a number of key hurdles that have to be addressed earlier than SMRs will be extensively adopted. Value reliability is a significant problem, given that previous nuclear initiatives have suffered vital value overruns and, in some circumstances, non-completion. Value issues have “constrained nuclear power relative to competing baseload applied sciences, resembling pure fuel,” the DOE stated.
As well as, the home nuclear provide chain faces capital movement constraints, “the place the return of capital and return on capital are on time horizons that inhibit traders and considerably impression an proprietor’s credit standing,” it stated. The U.S. home trade additionally lacks full capabilities for mission improvement, integration, and administration. “There is no such thing as a main constructor for brand spanking new nuclear initiatives, and the dearth of built-in mission supply fashions has constrained prior initiatives,” it underscores.
One other essential problem includes build up a producing and provide chain. “The present home nuclear provide chain faces extreme bottlenecks on long-lead procurements for main mission elements. This lack of resilience in capability, functionality, and value competitiveness is forcing procurements abroad,” the DOE stated. As well as, “The restricted variety of nuclear-qualified employees, resembling welders and plant operators, presents a problem to scaling nuclear deployments,” it stated.
Lastly, licensing uncertainty poses a significant hurdle. “The danger of licensing new applied sciences, together with the timeframe and value related to receiving NRC approval of recent nuclear designs, drives hesitancy for potential adopters,” the DOE stated.
Efforts to resolve this are underway throughout the board. Whereas President Biden not too long ago enacted the ADVANCE Act—sweeping laws that can make sure the NRC doesn’t “unnecessarily restrict” using nuclear power or the advantages it may present for society—the White Home has pursued a suite of recent measures, geared toward slashing dangers related to new nuclear reactor improvement and building.
In keeping with the DOE, funding purposes will probably be chosen primarily based on expectations to deal with key hurdles. “Precedence will probably be given to initiatives with (1) the best chance of a profitable deployment, (2) the best potential to develop a Gen III+ SMR orderbook, and (3) the best potential contribution to the resilience of the home nuclear trade,” it stated.
—Sonal Patel is a POWER senior editor (@sonalcpatel, @POWERmagazine).
