Dive Brief:
- The Nuclear Co. plans to develop a series of nuclear plants in the United States “using proven, licensed technology and a design-once, build-many approach,” the company said on Thursday.
- The startup will focus on sites that already have some level of Nuclear Regulatory Commission licensing for its initial 6-GW reactor fleet, which could begin generating power by the mid-2030s, Chief Development Officer Juliann Edwards said.
- “We are hyper-focused on delivering clean power as soon as possible [by replicating] what happened in the 1970s and 80s,” when dozens of new U.S. reactors came online, Edwards said.
Dive Insight:
Following nearly two decades of flat or falling power demand, U.S. load growth is expected to rise by 4.7%, or 38 GW, over the next five years, Grid Strategies said in December.
Much of the expected increase is due to reshoring of high-tech manufacturing, electrification of transportation and growth in the data center industry, which could account for up to 9% of U.S. electricity consumption by 2030, the Electric Power Research Institute said in May.
Advocates argue that nuclear power is the best available technology for delivering reliable, low-carbon energy to high-load utility customers, but recent U.S. reactor projects have been beset by delays and cost overruns.
In 2017, following the bankruptcy filing of main contractor Westinghouse, Santee Cooper and South Carolina Electric & Gas abandoned their V.C. Sumner nuclear plant expansion at about 40% completion, saddling customers with billions in sunk costs. Georgia Power’s two-reactor Plant Vogtle expansion finally wrapped up earlier this year, seven years late and $17 billion over budget.
“We recognize the challenges facing our industry, where one-off nuclear projects historically go over budget and run behind schedule,” Edwards said in a statement. “Our unique approach integrates proven technology with unparalleled collaboration among diverse organizations, ensuring that fleet-scale projects are executed on-time and on-budget.”
The Nuclear Co. will work with “a consortium of utilities and independent power producers, hyperscalers, nuclear technology suppliers and private equity [to] help mitigate risk and make nuclear power an attractive investment,” it said in a release. The company did not identify any members of the consortium.
“Our unique approach integrates proven technology with unparalleled collaboration among diverse organizations, ensuring that fleet-scale projects are executed on-time and on-budget,” Edwards said in her statement.
The idea is for The Nuclear Co., as a project developer, “to get industry and government to come together to spread that risk and value” rather than asking a single utility or power end-user to shoulder the entire burden of building a new nuclear plant, Edwards told Utility Dive.
The Nuclear Co. is in the midst of a significant capital raise that is expected to close later this year and “should give additional assurance to U.S. government and private partners,” Edwards added.
Current investors in The Nuclear Co. include CIV, True Ventures, Wonder Ventures, Goldcrest Capital and MCJ Collective, the company said.
For its first fleet, The Nuclear Co. prefers sites with active combined operating licenses, early site permits or limited work authorizations from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Edwards told Utility Dive. The NRC’s website shows active COLs for six unbuilt reactor units as of July 2023 and active ESPs for five nuclear sites as of September 2022.
The Nuclear Co. is looking at locations in the southeastern U.S., the PJM Interconnection and the Midcontinent Independent System Operator territory, Edwards said.
The active COLs for Turkey Point units 6 and 7 in Florida and William States Lee III units 1 and 2 in South Carolina are for Westinghouse AP-1000 reactors, “[which] is the design you’d most likely be interested in, if only because of the recent [industry] experience at Plant Vogtle,” said Nuclear Innovation Alliance Research Director Patrick White, who is not affiliated with The Nuclear Co.
“You would need to determine if any license amendments or changes are needed” for AP-1000s at those sites “[but you] may be able to leverage a lot of the experience of Vogtle in the licensing process,” he added.
Another consideration for any developer of new nuclear facilities is the longer-term business model or exit strategy, which could include selling a finished plant to a utility “as a turnkey asset” or operating it in partnership with an end user, White said.
Future Nuclear Co. fleets could use sites with existing transmission infrastructure and interconnection points but no active NRC licenses, including some of the hundreds of current or former coal-fired power plants the U.S. Department of Energy believes could be adapted to host nuclear reactors, Edwards said.
Though the ADVANCE Act will be a boon for the industry in the future, it will take some time for the NRC to implement the regulatory changes it calls for, hence The Nuclear Co.’s near-term focus on already-permitted sites and licensed reactor technologies, Edwards said.
But the nuclear industry needs to grow its supply chains and skilled workforce to expand at the scale and speed The Nuclear Co. envisions.
“We can’t build six reactors at once [right now]” given these constraints, Edwards said.
The Nuclear Co.’s seven-city Nuclear Frontier tour, which begins July 23 in Pittsburgh, will “engage with government and industry leaders, as well as the skilled tradespeople who will rebuild America’s nuclear leadership,” according to a press release. The Nuclear Co. is working with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and other labor unions to expand training opportunities, Edwards added.
Despite the near-term challenges, The Nuclear Co. has a sense of urgency about its work, Edwards said.
“I’m of a generation who could see the benefit of this … [but] decisions have to be made now,” she said. “It can’t be something we talk about now and then contemplate again in five years.”
