For decades, large gigawatt-scale nuclear reactors have provided a significant portion of electricity in the United States.  However, most of these reactors are at least 40 years old. As the nation moves to decarbonize the economy and transition to clean energy, a recent Climate Conversations webinar explored whether and how nuclear power could maintain a position in the future energy mix ― given environmental and safety concerns, as well as the high upfront capital costs associated with building reactors. The webinar featured two members of the committee that authored a recent National Academies report on the future of nuclear power and was moderated by Kara Colton, director of nuclear policy at Energy Communities Alliance.

“Traditionally nuclear power, these big plants, have been very expensive to build, and rather cheap to operate,” said committee member Ahmed Abdulla, an assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at Carleton University. However, he said, many renewable energy resources are now “even cheaper to operate, because they have no fuel costs, [and] have changed the economic paradigm for the large nuclear reactors.”  

A new generation of advanced nuclear reactors using an array of coolants, designs, fuels, materials, and technologies ― some novel, some conventional ― offer a range of innovations, explained Abdulla. These make them potentially stronger candidates than larger traditional reactors for development and deployment in the coming decades. The advantages differ between reactor concepts, but can include an improved safety profile, smaller size, and modularity, with the ability to scale systems up or down to meet output needs.  

Some modular reactor designs could also be built in factories and assembled on site, potentially helping to rein in the high construction costs that have plagued larger reactors. “Before companies are going to build those factories, though, they need to have the incentive of having a large number of orders,” said Michael Ford, who also worked on the report and is the associate laboratory director for engineering at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, a U.S. Department of Energy national laboratory managed by Princeton University. Orders from the U.S. government would be a boon to the industry, according to Ford, but international demand could also spur development and manufacturing in the U.S., if modular reactors can be “quickly certified and made available for the international market.”

If the U.S. decides to make advanced nuclear reactors part of its own decarbonization road map, innovations such as these open up the potential for these technologies to compete with and complement renewables, said Abdulla. Applications for advanced nuclear power can be grouped in four main buckets, with providing “firm power” (constant electricity supply) to the grid being “by far the dominant mission” for advanced nuclear, he noted. The other potential applications include powering energy-intensive industrial processes like steel and cement production, supplying energy for the production of hydrogen, which could replace fossil fuels, and supporting water desalination efforts.

“Advanced nuclear could play a role, but economics and the use cases for how it might balance with renewables is still a bit uncertain,” said Ford. He noted that government incentives helped nurture advancements in solar and wind technologies, drastically bringing down the cost of deployment. “The government can also help here by continuing to do things to incentivize growth that they’ve done with other energy technologies. Production tax credits, investment tax credits, power purchase agreements that will incentivize development of these technologies — those things can be done today.” Adopting those policies now would keep the option of nuclear energy open for the U.S. in the decades to come.

Addressing Community Concerns

Large-scale nuclear accidents such as such as the meltdowns at Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, and most recently Fukushima have understandably raised public concern about and opposition to reliance on nuclear power in many communities. There are also ever-present concerns over the environmental impacts of nuclear reactors, including the water usage and waste heat added to waterways by light water reactors, the effects of uranium mining and its leftover tailings, and spent fuel that will remain radioactive for millennia.  

If the U.S. chooses to pursue next generation nuclear reactors, steps need to be taken to ensure that the public is aware of the potential risks and benefits. “We know people might have issues with nuclear power,” said Abdulla. “We know what they want to know if you propose a facility in their proximate location … there are discussions we can have, and things we can do” to help alleviate those concerns.  

Companies should engage the community early and often, understand what the needs are, and be willing to walk away, if they can’t adequately address community concerns, said Ford. “There’s been some very good examples of how to [engage communities] and maybe how not to do it.” Getting community buy-in, along with issues of energy justice and equity, have often been overlooked in the pursuit of past nuclear reactor projects. 

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