President Kennedy switched the nation’s attention from nuclear to the space program but, beginning in the NixonAdministration and augmented following the 1973 oil embargo through the Three Mile Island incident in 1979, the U.S. authorized most of the 61 plants and 99 nuclear reactors still operating in 2017. As President Trump took office, the Aspen Institute issued a report stating, “Nuclear power in the U.S. is at a moment of existential crisis. If the present challenges are not addressed, the future of nuclear energy may be far less promising and superior U.S. nuclear expertise diminished.”
President Obama’sClean Energy Plan provided funding for nuclear energy, including creating the Gateway for Accelerated Innovation in Nuclear (GAIN). In 2012, despite objections by the chairman, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) authorized Southern Company to build and operate two new reactors at its Vogtle nuclear power plant in Georgia, the first in the USA since 1979.
17 December 2020
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The US Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Nuclear Energy (NE) has selected five teams to receive USD30 million in initial funding for risk reduction projects under its Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program (ARDP). All five of the selected designs have the potential to compete globally once deployed, DOE said.
Clockwise from top left: BWXT Advanced Nuclear Reactor; eVinci Microreactor; Kairos KP-FHR; Molten Chloride Reactor Experiment; Holtec SMR-160 (Images: DOE/Kairos Power))
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Risk reduction programme is one of three development and demonstration pathways under the ADRP and aims to design and develop safe and affordable reactor technologies that can be licensed and deployed over the next 10 to 14 years.