The U.S. has made strides toward nuclear in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), which gives Production Tax Credits for existing NPPs, an Investment Tax Credit for new zero-emission facilities, and monies toward high-assay, low-enrichment (HALEU) fuel for Generation IV NPPs. The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Loan Programs Office has allocated $12 billion in loan guarantees towards the Vogtle build-out. The IRA also designated $500 million supporting a demonstration of HALEU production at an enrichment facility in Piketon, OH. The BIL gave $6 billion towards a Nuclear Credit Program. First credits went towards extending the life of Diablo Canyon NPP in California.
Notable next-generation American projects include Dow and X-energy deploying X-energy’s four-unit, high-temperature gas SMR (Xe-100) at one of Dow’s U.S. Gulf sites under the DoE’s Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program. Bill Gates-owned TerraPower and GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy are developing a sodium-cooled fast reactor (Natrium reactor) slated to replace a retiring coal plant in Wyoming. Westinghouse has launched the AP300 SMR, a scaled-down version of its AP1000 pressurized light-water technology reactor, with the goal of delivering electricity within ten years.
For all this good news, critics can rightfully point out that NPP,s high construction costs, project delays, toxic nuclear waste, workforce development problems, and rising interest rates make financing NPPs too expensive for investors. All valid points.
The Germans decision is because the originally Soviet sponsored Green Anti-Nuke groups from the 80s are now the old farts in power. Ideally, a renaissance of new, safe nuclear plants in the USA can lead the younger generation of Germans to overthrow the stupidity of their elder communists in green sheep's clothing.
The real frontier is the modular nuclear plants that are about the size of a very small factory. They can be shipped in on a couple of trucks and put together very quickly. Each one could run a small city. If more power is needed, you get another one. When the fuel cells are spent, you ship it back to the factory to be decommissioned. There are a lot more “economies of scale” with the modular reactors. Problem is.... there are no facilities built yet that I know of that will build these modular plants. But they are meant to be more enticing to investors because of their smaller size and affordability.
The real issue is....... there aren’t enough people who can run them. You have to be very bright to operate reactors. most conventional land plants don’t even let college graduates operate them (they do maintenance for years). A lot of the operators come from the Navy. But with IQ scores falling, colleges allowing everyone in (and thereby rigor in the classroom content declining) there is a question about how you can even have them if there isn’t a workforce smart enough to operate them.
The Earth Firsters will never let this happen!!!
Its part of the Population Control effort. They DON'T WANT A SOLUTION!!!!!
Biden announces US-backed small modular reactor project in Romania
In February, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for the first time certified a new small modular reactor designed for domestic use. The company whose design was approved, NuScale Power, has already signed agreements to deploy its small nuclear reactor plants in 12 countries across Europe and the Middle East.
One of the emerging concerns for the administration is the small modular reactors that produce clean energy, but which account for a new proliferation risk.
The reactors could produce “usable material” for terrorist groups seeking to create havoc, a senior administration official told reporters before the signing. “We have to anticipate that and prepare and prevent that becoming a risk. That’s been a focal point of this work since the very beginning.” - https://www.politico.com/news/2023/03/02/biden-strategy-small-nuke-reactors-00085152