US Energy Secretary Chris Wright should work to advance the Tennessee Valley Authority's small modular reactor project and partner with private high-temperature reactor consortiums if he wants to help expand nuclear generation, a new report recommended.
Since the Energy Department has no regulatory role over commercial nuclear, Wright "will need to choose whether, where and how his agency will make investments toward his goal of advancing nuclear energy," wrote report author Matt Bowen, a research scholar focusing on nuclear energy at the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs.
Wright signed his first secretarial order Feb. 5, which included "unleashing" commercial nuclear in the US.
"The long-awaited American nuclear renaissance must launch" during US President Donald Trump's administration, Wright said in the order. "As global energy demand continues to grow, America must lead the commercialization of affordable and abundant nuclear energy ... The department will work diligently and creatively to enable the rapid deployment and export of next-generation nuclear technology."
Wright will face several challenges to that end, Bowen said in the Columbia report, "How the Energy Secretary Can Achieve His Goal of Next-Generation Nuclear Energy Deployment."
A looming datacenter demand surge is prompting renewed interest in US nuclear, including from major technology companies that announced a series of partnerships with nuclear developers in 2024.
Small modular reactors — one type of advanced nuclear technology — could be advantageous for US deployment, Bowen said, since they may have shorter construction timelines, lower financing costs and require less capital.
Small modular reactors (SMRs) are not yet commercially available for utility-scale power generation, though US developers are working on multiple designs and hope to begin delivering electrons to the grid in the mid-2030s.
"The possibility of financial ruin when large reactor construction projects go badly has historical precedent," Bowen noted, including the $9 billion South Carolina utilities spent before abandoning the V.C. Summer expansion, which would have added two new, 1,100-MW AP1000 light-water reactors. Some in South Carolina, including Gov. Henry McMaster, are calling for that project to restart to meet growing demand.
"The challenges associated with first-of-a-kind deployments of new nuclear energy technologies remain formidable," Bowen said. However, some policy changes could help mitigate those challenges.
TVA
If Wright wants to help create another nuclear energy option for utilities as well as a new option to be exported to other countries, Bowen's report suggested the DOE should negotiate an agreement with TVA to help move the Clinch River SMR project into the next phase.
The TVA is in the final stages of a license and construction permit application it plans to submit this year to the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission to build what could be the first utility-scale SMR in the country at its Clinch River Nuclear site, utility President and CEO Jeff Lyash said Feb. 5.
The TVA is working with Ontario Power Generation Inc. on the GE-Hitachi Nuclear Energy Inc. BWRX-300 SMR design, which Ontario Power plans to build at its Darlington nuclear site. Construction on Ontario Power's project is expected to begin this year, and Lyash said work on the standard design should also wrap up this year. Duke Energy Corp. and other utilities have publicly announced interest in SMRs, including TVA's work on the BWRX-300, though they have not submitted applications to the NRC to build one.
Wright could commit DOE to purchase power from TVA's SMR at a higher price than it would pay for current grid electricity for department sites in the area to help offset project risk, Bowen recommended.
Congress already directed DOE to support light-water SMRs with $900 million in the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2024, and the TVA led an application alongside utilities and others for $800 million of that funding.
High-temperature reactors
Accelerating the availability of high-temperature reactors, or those cooled using materials other than water, could also be valuable to US interests, Bowen wrote. Those designs also have reduced capital costs compared with light-water reactors, and their higher operating temperatures could serve process heat needs outside power production.
Bowen recommended Wright take a lesson from NASA's partnership with SpaceX and use a similar strategy to establish a program to accelerate advanced reactor development.
"The secretary could solicit proposals from industry consortiums — including hyperscalers and industrial entities — in the form of payment-for-milestones and evaluate which proposals (if any) are worth the associated public expenditures," Bowen wrote in the report.
Wright also could direct his department to modify or renegotiate existing cost-share awards that were made to high-temperature reactor companies in 2020.
The three largest awards for high-temperature reactors were to TerraPower LLC, X-energy LLC and Kairos Power LLC, with the status of those awards unclear, Bowen wrote. Wright could alter the agreements for TerraPower and X-energy to set them up as payment-for-milestones, which could help further advance their work. Kairos Power already has such an agreement.
DOE also could be an early customer for the advanced reactor developers, as NASA was for SpaceX, Bowen wrote. Wright could offer commitments to take power and heat from new advanced nuclear, providing additional incentive for new reactor construction projects.
"Both initiatives could help scale up new dispatchable nuclear energy options domestically and for export to meet growing energy demands for affordable, reliable energy while minimizing land use, air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions," Bowen wrote.
