ICYMI: Construction on an advanced nuclear reactor broke ground yesterday, marking the first project of the new wave of nuclear technology to move from design to construction.
The details: Nuclear innovation company TerraPower celebrated the start of construction for its Natrium reactor demonstration project – a 345 megawatt reactor that’s expected to power up to 400,000 homes when kicked to its max output capacity. It is being constructed near a retiring coal-fired power plant and stands as the only coal-to-nuclear project under development in the world, the company says. Construction is expected to span five years.
But: Non-nuclear construction is taking place. The company has submitted its permitting application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission earlier this year, and will begin nuclear construction after the application is approved.
Why this is important: The project, which is backed by billionaire Bill Gates, is a testament of renewed investment into nuclear, with a number of companies looking to advance a new wave of small modular reactors instead of older, larger nuclear designs. The Biden administration has notably created tax credits to invest in the technology through the Inflation Reduction Act.
However, expect there to be various hurdles between now and when the plant begins operation. The plant won’t be finished until 2030 at the earliest, and will have to face possible delays and cost overruns that have plagued other nuclear projects. The project has already seen a two-year delay due to its pledge in 2022 to no longer buy Russian enriched uranium. And of course, the NRC has yet to approve its permitting application to begin nuclear construction.
Another example: NuScale Power, the only developer with U.S. regulatory approval for an SMR design, called off a high-profile project in November last year as costs surged and utilities withdrew from an agreement to buy power from the reactors once the project was completed. The project would have provided power to Utah utilities and had received $232 million from the Department of Energy.
One key difference: The TerraPower project is backed by Gates – and he has poured more than $1 billion of his own funds into the project.
Jobs, jobs, jobs: A lot of residents are counting on the nuclear plant to reinvigorate the economy. The towns near the project had depended on a coal-fired power plant for decades – but the plant is scheduled to close by 2036 as the country moves away from coal.
Approximately 1,600 workers, at maximum, will be needed for construction. But once the plant is operational, the company estimates, 250 people will be needed to support daily operations.
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SIEMENS PLANS FOR WORLD’S LARGEST WIND TURBINE: Siemen’s Energy told customers that it plans to build the world’s largest wind turbine, possibly by the end of the decade, Bloomberg reports.
It is aiming for an offshore turbine that could produce around 21 megawatts. In comparison, a Chinese manufacturer just installed an 18 MW turbine in the city of Shantou, as we noted the other day.
Why it matters: Manufacturers had been competing to offer larger turbines in recent years, before the industry began facing headwinds. Increasing turbine size can help bring down the cost of producing energy.
CONGESTION PRICING FALLOUT – ELECTRIC BUSES MIGHT HAVE TO WAIT IN NYC: New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority has shelved its plans for modernizing the city’s transit system in the wake of Gov. Kathy Hochul’s last-minute decision to cancel congestion pricing, the New York Daily News reports. The fees from the plan were expected to bring in $15 billion for the MTA to use in capital projects.
“Modernization and improvement projects like electric buses, accessible stations and new signals will likely need to be de-prioritized to protect and preserve the basic operation and functionality of this 100+ year old system,” MTA CFO Kevin Willens and MTA General Counsel Paige Graves said in a statement.
At a press conference yesterday, Hochul accused those who say funding can’t be found to have a “lack of imagination.”
CHIPS ACT FUNDING FOR SOLAR CELLS FOR SPACESHIPS AND SATELLITES: Albuquerque-headquartered Rocket Lab has inked a deal to get up to $23.9M in direct funding under the CHIPS and Science Act to build space-grade solar cells, the administration announced this morning.
Rocket Lab is one of two U.S. companies that produce compound semiconductors, which are used in space to convert light to electricity. As such it is eligible for funding under the CHIPS Act, which is meant to boost the domestic semiconductor industry.
The space cells are used for power in programs like the James Webb Space Telescope, NASA’s Artemis lunar explorations, the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter, and the Mars Insight Lander, the Commerce Department said in a press release on the award. The funding is meant to help Rocket Labs increase production 50% in the next three years to help the U.S. pursue its goals of putting more satellites in space.
Secretary Gina Raimondo said the proposed funding “would help our military, NASA, and our commercial space industry have access to the specialty semiconductors they need to keep our country safe and continue to lead in scientific discoveries and space commerce.”
CALIFORNIA LAWSUIT AGAINST BIG OIL UPDATE: California Attorney General Rob Bonta is seeking to seize profits from oil majors as part of his climate lawsuit against them, Reuters reports.
Bonta filed an amended suit yesterday in response to a new state law allowing for the disgorgement of profits from businesses that have violated laws against unfair competition and false advertising. In the original suit, filed in September of last year, Bonta accused oil majors and a trade group of deceiving constituents about the companies’ contributions to climate change. The lawsuit goes after Exxon, Shell, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, BP, and the American Petroleum Institute.
“This ongoing, coordinated campaign to wage meritless, politicized lawsuits against a foundational American industry and its workers is nothing more than a distraction from important national conversations and an enormous waste of taxpayer resources,” API General Counsel Ryan Meyers said in a statement. “Climate policy is for Congress to debate and decide, not a patchwork of courts.”
The amended lawsuit comes after the United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for countries to ban advertisements for fossil fuel companies on the basis of being detrimental to human health – similarly, as many countries have banned ads for tobacco and other products. Read more on that here.
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