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Atomic Insights

Atomic energy technology, politics, and perceptions from a nuclear energy insider who served as a US nuclear submarine engineer officer

Business of atomic energy

Atomic Show #301 – Matt Crozat, Executive Director for Strategy and Policy Development, NEI

November 11, 2022 By Rod Adams 4 Comments

The nuclear energy policy landscape in the US has changed significantly during the past 5 years. Once seen as an issue with enormous differences between the political parties, it has become one of the few topics on which both parties can have a civil discussion and agree on many key provisions in supportive legislation.

Matt Crozat: NEI, Executive Director for Strategy and Policy

Matt Crozat is the Nuclear Energy Institute’s Executive Director for Strategy and Policy Development. He and his supporting team have played a role in helping Representatives, Senators and their key staff members to understand the value supplied by operating nuclear plants and the advanced nuclear power systems that are being developed.

Some of the progress began with efforts at the state level and then proceeded to capture the attention of the national level politicians and leaders.

We talked about the strong financial support provided to operating plants to keep them economically viable and about the provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act that will encourage and reward the deployers of new nuclear power plants.

We talked about the results of an NEI survey of companies that own and operate the existing nuclear fleet that provided an intriguingly large number of expected new capacity additions between now and 2050. (Spoiler alert: Though representing a limited portion of the potential buyers, those companies expect to add enough reactors to double current nuclear generating capacity by 2050.)

From: “The Path to Decarbonization:
Overview of the Demand for New Nuclear.” With permission from NE

Efforts to ensure capable supply chains and workforce development for that kind of growth have begun, but there is a lot of work remaining to be done. We discussed the importance of committed orders to convince suppliers that investments will produce product sales and the importance of jobs to ensure that workers are convinced to invest in developing their skills and education.

An important topic in our discussion was the importance of a consistent, steady effort and the extreme cost and vulnerability that can be imposed by wide swings in support that lead to bumpy, halting efforts.

We talked a bit about the potential that one or more of the companies that already own issued and active combined licenses for AP1000s may recognize that their decision matrix has changed in the past 2 years, with dramatic movements upon Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and then again upon passage of the Inflation Reduction Act.

I’d wager that construction on those project could be organized to begin within about two years from the time the corporate board is convinced that is an investment worth the time and resources involved.

For reasons of fairness and not leaving anyone out of the mentions, we did not discuss the numerous organizations and individuals that helped achieve the successful change in the policy landscape.

I hope you enjoy the episode. Please participate in the discussion here with comments, questions and suggestions.

https://s3.amazonaws.com/AtomicShowFiles/atomic_20221110_301.mp3

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 51:30 — 29.5MB)

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Filed Under: Advanced Atomic Technologies, Business of atomic energy, New Nuclear, Podcast

Nuclear energy growth prospects and secure uranium supplies

April 28, 2022 By Rod Adams Leave a Comment

Uranium Panel: Discussing a Uranium Bull Market, New Nuclear and Sentiment for a Decarbonized Future

The 121 Mining Investment event held in Las Vegas on March 30 and 31 included a panel discussion with leaders from three uranium mining companies, each of which has an asset base of potentially lucrative mining prospects mostly located in North America. The fourth member of the panel was a managing partner at Nucleation Capital, a venture capital fund focusing on opportunities in the advanced nuclear sector, including suppliers of key system components front end to back end.

The panel included a lively chat about the prospects for new nuclear power plants, life extensions for existing power plants – including some that had previously announced closures, the implications of HALEU requirements for advanced reactors and the potential for micro and small reactors to supply power to mining operations that are often located in remote, off-grid locations.

The panel included following participants:

Rod Adams, Managing Partner, Nucleation Capital; Jon Bey, CEO, Standard Uranium; Ross McElroy, CEO, Fission Uranium; Andrew Ferrier, Managing Director, Okapi Resources

Background: The 121 Group hosts a series of events designed to help growing companies, especially those focusing on raw material supply, meet with investors that are interested in the growth potential for those companies and the sectors they serve. Those conferences are called 121 Mining Investment events.

Aside: 121 is pronounced 1 to 1, not one twenty one. A key feature of the events is the opportunity for companies to schedule face to face meetings with interested investors. The booth set-up for the event in Las Vegas was different from any that I have seen before. The three walls of each booth were inflatables with a continuously running blower. They reminded me of the system used for bounce houses at birthday parties for kids. Sound isolation was impressively effective. End Aside.

Filed Under: 121 Mining Las Vegas 2022, Business of atomic energy, New Nuclear, Uranium mining

Atomic Show #296 – Julia Pyke, Director of Finance Sizewell C

March 12, 2022 By Rod Adams 41 Comments

Sizewell C is a project to build a 3,200 MWe power station consisting of two EPR units on the site that currently hosts a single large pressurized water reactor (Sizewell B). With the exception of site-specific foundations and structures, the new power station will be a copy of the station currently under construction at Hinkley […]

Filed Under: Business of atomic energy, International nuclear, Investing, New Nuclear, Podcast Tagged With: Atomic Show, clean energy policy, finance, Julia Pyke, nuclear finance, Sizewell C, United Kingdom

Atomic Show #294 – Mikal Boe, Core Power Founder and CEO

January 5, 2022 By Rod Adams 31 Comments

Mikal Boe has spent 30 years in and around the commercial shipping industry. Several years ago, he began wondering how his industry was going to meet the increasingly stringent rules for air pollution and CO2 production that were being implemented by governing regulators, especially the International Maritime Organization (IMO). His extensive technical research led him […]

Filed Under: Advanced Atomic Technologies, Atomic ships, Business of atomic energy, International nuclear, Molten salt cooled, Nuclear Ships, Nuclear workforce, Podcast

What makes smaller nuclear power systems so exciting?

September 21, 2021 By Rod Adams 27 Comments

Let me start by dispelling the notion that I think smaller, modular, manufactured nuclear power systems – often called SMRs or micro reactors – are the be all and end all solution to anything, including climate change or energy security. Though not THE solution, they have the potential to be a crucial, uniquely capable part […]

Filed Under: Advanced Atomic Technologies, Business of atomic energy, Clean Energy, decarbonization, Economics, Investing, New Nuclear, Small Nuclear Power Plants, Smaller reactors

China’s high temperature reactor – pebble bed modular (HTR-PM) achieves its first criticality

September 14, 2021 By Rod Adams 34 Comments

On the morning of September 12, 2021, reactor number 1 of the eagerly awaited HTR-PM project was taken critical for the first time. Initial criticality for any new reactor is a big deal for the people involved in the project; this one is a big deal for the future of nuclear energy. It might also […]

Filed Under: Advanced Atomic Technologies, Atomic history, Business of atomic energy, Gas Cooled Reactors, Graphite Moderated Reactors, International nuclear, New Nuclear, Pebble Bed Reactors, Small Nuclear Power Plants, Smaller reactors

Atomic Show #291 – Kalev Kallemets, Fermi Energia

February 24, 2021 By Rod Adams 3 Comments

Fermi Energia is an Estonian company whose mission is to provide its home country with an independent, clean, safe and affordable electricity production system by 2035. That system will be anchored by base supply from small modular nuclear reactors. It is a lofty mission for a small company in a country whose land mass and […]

Filed Under: Business of atomic energy, International nuclear, Podcast, Politics of Nuclear Energy

Atomic Show #278 – Micro-Modular Reactor (MMR) project partners USNC, GFP and OPG

June 21, 2020 By Rod Adams 14 Comments

Global First Power (GFP), Ultra Safe Nuclear Corporation (USNC) and Ontario Power Generation (OPG) recently announced that they had formed a joint venture called Global First Power Limited Partnership. That venture will build, own and operate an installation called the Micro Modular Reactor (MMR™) at the Chalk River Laboratories site. Mark Mitchell and Eric MGoey […]

Filed Under: Advanced Atomic Technologies, Atomic Entrepreneurs, Business of atomic energy, Gas Cooled Reactors, New Nuclear, Podcast, Small Nuclear Power Plants, Smaller reactors

Atomic Show #275 – Managing advanced nuclear development during pandemic

May 12, 2020 By Rod Adams 10 Comments

Managing any business is hard work, especially during a global pandemic with stay-at-home orders in place. It requires creativity and flexibility along with some amount of prior preparation. On May 11, 2020, I gathered a group of representatives from several start-up companies that are developing advanced nuclear technologies to talk about how they are making […]

Filed Under: Advanced Atomic Technologies, Atomic Entrepreneurs, Business of atomic energy, Podcast

Atomic Show #272 – Karnfull Energi

April 18, 2020 By Rod Adams 4 Comments

Karnfull Energi is a young company that is successfully proving that nuclear energy is more popular than politicians believe. They have created the world’s first 100% nuclear energy offering. Customers have responded with their wallets, showing they are willing to pay a modest premium for higher quality electricity. People are shopping at Karfull’s online store. […]

Filed Under: Business of atomic energy, Podcast

Atomic Show #271 – Improving Nuclear Cost and Schedule Performance

April 15, 2020 By Rod Adams 5 Comments

One of the most persistent arguments against the rapid deployment of nuclear energy is that projects are too expensive and take too long to complete. Based on the performance of the few nuclear plants that have begun construction in the West during this century, it’s hard to disagree. But there is solid evidence from projects […]

Filed Under: Business of atomic energy, Economics, Podcast

Investing in atomic fission to make world a better place

February 25, 2020 By Rod Adams 17 Comments

An increasing number of major corporations and famous individual investors have announced plans to make their money work harder to address environmental, social and governance (ESG) goals. These plans are not about philanthropic giving. The individuals and organizations believe that careful targeting of their money can produce both financial and social returns. By investing in […]

Filed Under: Advanced Atomic Technologies, Alternative energy, Business of atomic energy

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