Office of

Nuclear Energy

U.S. Nuclear Energy Program

October 13, 2016

Nuclear Energy Tribal Working Group

Bradley Williams

Senior Advisor, Office of Nuclear Energy

U.S. Department of Energy

Trends in Nuclear

• Recognition of importance of nuclear –today and in the future – in meeting carbon reduction/climate goals

• Concern about financial viability of some currently operating plants, yet large carbon reduction benefits from keeping them running• Generation II and III reactors

• Increased interest in nuclear in some domestic and international markets• Generation III+• SMR technology

• Innovators and some utilities looking at advanced “Generation IV” nuclear as a way to move nuclear beyond electricity

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Nuclear Energy – Sustainably Clean Power

Wind and solar are growing rapidly, but we have not yet solved the challenge of grid-scale storage that will provide power when intermittent sources cannot. We know nuclear can provide 24-hour baseload power, because it already does. Worldwide, nuclear power produces more energy than hydro, solar, wind, and geothermal power combined.

The bottom line is that to achieve the pace and scale of worldwide carbon reductions needed to avoid climate change, nuclear must play a role.”

“To meet our emissions reduction targets and avoid the worst effects of climate change, we need to dramatically reduce power sector emissions. Switching from coal to natural gas is already reducing the U.S. carbon footprint, but it’s not enough to get the deep CO2

cuts envisioned in the President’s Climate Action Plan. Reducing emissions by 80% will likely require the complete decarbonization of the power sector….

Secretary MonizCOP21, Paris 2015

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Clean Power Plan

• In August 2015, President Obama announced a Clean Power Plan to reduce carbon emissions in the United States.

• The plan sets flexible and achievable standards to reduce power sector carbon dioxide emissions by 32percent below 2005 levels by 2030.

• Nuclear energy can be incorporated into state plans

– New nuclear power (including under construction) and nuclear uprates count towards compliance

– States can design their own policies to comply with their goals, and may choose to incent existing nuclear plants to continue to operate

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“DOE stands ready to assist

states with technical

expertise to meet these

pollution-cutting targets

while maintaining an

effective, affordable, and

reliable electric system.”

- Secretary Moniz

Notional Nuclear Energy Deployment Scenarios

Life extension to 80 yrs for 60% of current capacity (younger and larger units)

The partitioning between GE III+, SMRs, and GEN

IV depend on the availability of the technologies

and supply-chain considerations

2010 20202030 2040

ADVANCED REACTORS NUCLEAR HYBRID ENERGYSUSTAINABLE FUEL CYCLE

GEOLOGIC REPOSITORY

LWR LIFE EXTENSION (80 yrs)

LWR LIFE EXTENSION (60 yrs)USED FUEL STORAGE

ADVANCED LWR BASEDSYSTEMS & COMPONENTS

SMALL MODULAR REACTORS

A balanced and innovative National Nuclear Energy RD&D portfolio is needed to meet near-terms priorities and long-term objectives, given the long development and deployment period for nuclear technologies.

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Challenges and Changes to U.S. Nuclear Fleet

• Fitzpatrick, Pilgrim, Oyster Creek, slated to close

• Additionally, Fort Calhoun, Clinton, Quad Cities, Nine Mile Point-1, Ginna, Diablo Canyon recently announced plans to close

• Many others at “at-risk” especially in deregulated markets

• Some estimates as high as 40-50% of the fleet

“The economic challenges facing nuclear plants have prompted some utilities to retire reactors early. The prospect of even more early retirements has significant and potentially quite serious consequences......... The nuclear fleet is currently the largest part of America’s clean, emission-free electricity generation. We need this source if we expect to overcome our nation’s environmental challenges.”

Secretary of Energy Moniz, May 2016

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Retired nuclear plants are replaced almost entirely with natural gas-fired generation

Note: this is a notional depiction of closure scenarios.

The announced closures line only includes Fitzpatrick,

Pilgrim, and Oyster Creek.

Proposed Actions from the Summit on Improving the Economics of America’s Nuclear Power Plants

• Policy should be technology neutral• Focus on the end goal (i.e., reduced carbon emissions) rather than advancing a particular technology• Level the Playing Field – treat all clean technologies equally

• Outreach and education

• Near-term action by FERC on Price Formation

• Valuation needs to be considered by FERC / Markets• Zero-carbon, Reliability, Resiliency, Affordability, Fuel Diversity, Sustainability, Security, Flexibility, etc.

• Clean Energy Standards

• Reduce Operating Costs• Delivering the Nuclear Promise• LWR Working Group – technical advances• Provide additional energy services (i.e., process heat applications)

• Clean Power Plan Implementation• Mass-based with new source complement

• Power Purchase Agreements

• Legislation• Carbon Price, Production Tax Credit

• Re-regulate7

Federal Loan Guarantees Underpin New Nuclear Build

• The Energy Policy Act of 2005 authorized the Department of Energy to issue loan guarantees for projects that avoid, reduce or sequester greenhouse gases and employ new or significantly-improved technologies as compared to technologies in service in the United States at the time the guarantee is issued.

• In Georgia, two AP1000s are being built with $8.3 billion in loan guarantees from the Department of Energy.

Construction of Vogtle Unit 3, January 2014 ©Georgia Power Company

• DOE announced an additional $12.5 billion solicitation for loan guarantees for Advanced Nuclear Energy Projects in December 2014 --focuses on four key areas:

‒ Advanced nuclear reactors‒ Small modular reactors‒ Uprates and upgrades at existing facilities‒ Front-end nuclear projects, such as

uranium, conversion, enrichment and fuel fabrication

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Why SMRs?

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Promoting the accelerated deployment of SMRs by supporting design certification and licensing for U.S.-based SMR projects

U.S. Coal Plant Capacity vs. Age

Clean Energy Option Non-Electricity Missions

Microgrids

Vision and Strategy for Advanced Reactors

VISION

By 2050, advanced reactors will provide a significant and growing component of the nuclear energy mix both domestically and globally, due to their advantages in terms of improved safety, cost,

performance, sustainability, and reduced proliferation risks.

GOAL

By the early 2030s, at least two non-light water advanced reactor concepts have reached technical maturity, demonstrated safety and economic benefits, and completed licensing reviews by the U.S.

Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) sufficient to allow construction to go forward.

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Sequential Progression For Innovation

DOE

selects and

develops

promising

innovative

technologies

UTILITIES

deploy a subset of

the commercial

products

VENDORS/SUPPLIERS

convert a subset of the

technologies into

commercial products

Integrated Approach for Innovation to

Achieve All 3 Strategic Objectives

Simultaneously

For complex technologies such as nuclear energy, the sequential model becomes less effective when large

amounts of funding are required and the technology maturation cycle is long.

DOE-VENDORS-UTILITIES

Private-Public Partnership Model

Optimized strategy for development, demonstration,

and deployment of advanced technologies.

A New Framework For Faster and More Cost-Effective Innovation in Nuclear Energy

Enabling Global

Industrial Leadership

Maintaining

Global Technology

Leadership

Optimizing use of

nuclear energy

domestically within the

clean energy portfolio

DOE/Industry

Vendors/Suppliers Utilities

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Gateway for Accelerated Innovation in Nuclear (GAIN)

12https://gain.inl.gov

TWO DIFFERENT TYPES OF TEST BEDS MAY BE DEFINED FOR ADDRESSING THE “TWO VALLEYS OF DEATH”

3 Technology Readiness Levels (TRL)

10

100

1000

Inve

stm

ent L

evel

s ($

M)

R&D TEST BED Rapid and cost-effective retirement of

technical risk for innovative

technologies.

DEMO PLATFORM Minimize the difference between 1st

of a kind and nth of a kind and reduce

the cost uncertainty for commercial

units.

9 1 3 5 8 2 7 4 6

Proof-of-Concept Proof-of-Performance Proof-of-Operations

! for 1st of a kind

Phase I Phase II Phase III

A tailored approach to support technologies of varying TRLs

Removing barriers nuclear energy

deployment

NE Reorganization

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Informing Future Policy

• Quadrennial Energy Review First Installment—Transforming U.S. Energy Infrastructure in a Time of Rapid Change• Findings included the growing dependencies of all critical infrastructures and

economic sectors on electricity and the increasing interdependence of the various energy subsectors

• Quadrennial Technology Review• Examined the most promising RDD&D opportunities across energy

technologies to effectively address the nation's energy needs

• Quadrennial Energy Review Second Installment—An Integrated Study of the Electricity System• Covers generation to end-use• Also includes specific focuses on valuation, markets, jurisdiction,

environment, and distribution

• Mission Innovation• Accelerate the deployment of clean energy technologies by doubling R&D

budgets over 5 years 14

Highlights of the Nuclear Energy FY 2017 Request

Nuclear Energy accelerates integrated waste management implementation with consent-based siting and invests in emerging nuclear reactor designs and advanced fuels.

• Small Modular Reactors ($90M)—Complete DOE commitment for the NuScale Design Certification (DC) Project – supports NRC review of DC application, NuScale’s engineering and analytical efforts to respond to NRC review issues, and work towards finalizing the SMR design.

• Reactor Concepts ($109M)— Continue LWRS efforts to maintain carbon free power generation by the current fleet and supports R&D of advanced reactor technologies. Consolidates sCO2 R&D activities (STEP).

• Fuel Cycle R&D ($250M)—Accelerate Integrated Waste Management System storage & transportation and consent-based siting activities; initiate development and qualification phase for accident tolerant fuel to support insertion of a lead test rod or assembly in a commercial reactor by 2022; continue deep borehole field test; and continue collaboration with industry on extended storage of high-burnup used fuel.

• Nuclear Energy Enabling Technologies ($90M)— Supports modeling and simulation, cross-cutting technology development, nuclear user facilities, and traineeships for critical nuclear technologies.

• Idaho National Laboratory ($356M)—Modernization of facilities and security capabilities, including initiation of 5 year ATR reliability improvement program.

• International Nuclear Energy Coordination ($5M) -- Initiates development of a program for international nuclear energy education outreach to support emerging countries developing nuclear energy programs.

FY 2016 Enacted FY 2017 Request FY 17 vs FY16 Delta

$986M $994M +$8M

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