Daily on Energy: CEO says small nuclear reactors will help decarbonize the country

“I don’t think we really understand the true potential yet,” John Hopkins, the CEO of NuScale, told me this week on the sidelines of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Energy Innovation Summit. “They are going to be huge.”

“One thing I would like people to understand is — like anything, nuclear advances,” he said. “There is a new wave of nuclear coming.”

NuScale, an Oregon-based nuclear technology firm, is hoping to be the first company in recent decades to obtain a license to operate a new reactor design in the U.S. for commercial use.

Progress is happening: The company celebrated a milestone last month when the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission finished the second and third phases of review its reactor design six weeks ahead of schedule, putting the panel on track to finish the review by 2020. NuScale expects to have its reactors in commercial operation by 2026.

NuScale’s first customer is set to be Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems, a group of utilities in six Western states, which are purchasing power from 12 individual 60-megawatt reactors being built at the Energy Department’s Idaho National Laboratory. The Energy Department, which has invested $300 million in NuScale, plans to buy power from two of the reactors.

Key to zero-carbon goals: Advanced reactors are seen as key to improving the fortunes of nuclear energy, which emits no carbon, giving it a level of bipartisan support for its potential to help combat climate change.

The progress of the NuScale reactor comes as energy analysts warn that the U.S. can’t reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by midcentury without advancements in nuclear energy.

“There is no chance of meeting a net-zero goal without everybody on deck, including advanced nuclear,” Ernest Moniz, the energy secretary in the Obama administration, said at this week’s Chamber summit.

Existing nuclear, which provides almost 60% of the nation’s carbon-free electricity, is struggling with high costs to compete with cheaper natural gas and renewables.

Only one new reactor has been completed in the last three decades in the U.S., with recent projects canceled or delayed because of mounting expenses.

“When I talk to a lot of the environmentalists, I find them disingenuous if they say we are going to live in a world without nuclear energy,” Hopkins said. “I just don’t see it happening, not if we are going to meet the commitments of the global requirements of reducing of C02 emissions. You need renewables. You need nuclear. You need it all.”

While some states have taken action to take keep their nuclear fleets online, smaller advanced reactors can provide a more certain future for the industry.

“It’s hugely important to make nuclear small,” Rich Powell, executive director at ClearPath, a conservative clean energy group, told me. “In this period in the 2020s, if nuclear is going to survive, it has to go smaller scale. Proving it can work technologically and economically is hugely important.”

How the reactors work: The NuScale reactors are designed for greater safety and easier construction than today’s massive plants. NuScale co-founder and chief technology officer Jose Reyes began designing the reactor in 2000. The smaller 75-foot-tall reactors — a size Powell compares to a small submarine — are about one-third the size of traditional reactors. The reactors are self-cooling and designed for automatic shutdown if there is a loss of electric power. They sit in a huge underground pool of water, using it as a coolant. About 12 of them can be installed at one site.

“Arguably you could say had these NuScale reactors been deployable at scale, you would have never had a Fukushima in terms of a nuclear event,” Hopkins said.

NuScale’s reactors are farther ahead in the permitting process, Hopkins said, because they are light-water reactors, the most common type, meaning regulators are accustomed to it.

Hurdles remain: However, other types of advanced reactors have faced setbacks. Megabillionaire Bill Gates, who co-founded the nuclear technology firm TerraPower, recently told Axios that the future for the next generation of nuclear is “daunting.”

TerraPower, which uses a traveling-wave reactor that uses depleted uranium as fuel, recently had to scrap its first demonstration project in China because of the Trump administration’s trade policies.

Hopkins agreed with Gates’ characterization for widespread adoption of advanced reactors, citing permitting and cost as the biggest challenges. Powell said advanced reactors will struggle to compete in parts of the country where “cheap gas and renewables are king”, but could be used as a zero-emissions alternative in coal-dependent areas.

“It is daunting,” Hopkins said. “It comes down to [government] funding. If you look at any innovative technology, it generally starts with government subsidies and the ones that really get through are the ones where the government stays through to commercialization.”

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UN CHIEF WARNS COUNTRIES TO INCREASE PARIS PLEDGES AS WORLD EXPERIENCES RECORD HEAT: United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres warned countries across the world Thursday that they must increase their targets to limit greenhouse gas emissions, after the globe experienced record hot temperatures in July.

Guterres delivered the warning at a press conference ahead of the U.N.’s Climate Action Summit in New York on Sept. 23, where countries are encouraged to increase their pledges to the Paris climate change agreement.

“I am telling leaders don’t come to the Summit with beautiful speeches,” Guterres said. “Come with concrete plans – clear steps to enhance nationally determined contributions by 2020 – and strategies for carbon neutrality by 2050.”

The heat is on: Guterres shared new data from the World Meteorological Organization finding that July at least equaled, if not surpassed, the hottest month in recorded history. That means the world is on track to experience the five hottest years ever recorded from 2015 to 2019.

“If we do not take action on climate change now, these extreme weather events are just the tip of the iceberg,” Guterres said.

Taking stock: The U.N. chief reiterated that the world must cut greenhouse gas emissions 45% by 2030, and reach net-zero emissions by 2050, or carbon neutrality, in order to limit temperature increases to 1.5 degrees Celsius, the target of the Paris agreement.

“It is absolutely essential not only to implement the Paris agreement, but to do so with an enhanced ambition,” Guterres said.

The planet has already warmed by about 1 degree Celsius. Under the current pledges to the Paris deal, the world temperature would rise above 3 degrees Celsius, Guterres said.

President Trump has announced his intent to exit from the 2015 Paris deal, but he cannot technically remove the U.S. from the accord until 2020.

BIDEN SEEKS TO CLEAN UP CONFUSION OVER HIS PLAN FOR FOSSIL FUELS: The Joe Biden campaign sought Thursday to clarify his confusing comments at this week’s debate about fossil fuels.

A campaign spokesman suggested to reporters, including Emily Holden of the Guardian, that Biden would not seek to phase out coal and natural gas during his administration.

“Joe Biden is committed to achieving a 100% clean energy economy and net-zero emissions by 2050,” the spokesman said. “He supports eliminating subsidies for coal and gas and deploying carbon capture and sequestration technology to create economic benefits for multiple industries and significantly reduce carbon dioxide emissions.”

After Jay Inslee accused Biden of having a “middling” climate change agenda, the former vice president had suggested during Wednesday night’s debate that he would end the use of coal, and stop the practice of fracking for natural gas. But his statement was far from definitive, and it was unclear if he was conflating ending fossil fuel subsidies, which his formal climate change plan would do, with banning fracking and ending coal use.

Does any of the rhetoric matter? With Biden’s new statement, however, he appears to be making a distinction without a difference.

The vice president, like most other candidates, has committed to reaching net-zero greenhouse gas emissions across the economy by 2050, aggressive action that would likely require the phase out of fossil fuels — whether Biden acknowledges it or not — unless paired with carbon capture and storage technologies on coal and gas plants.

“To get there [net-zero emissions] we’re going to have to start phasing out electricity from coal and gas that doesn’t involve carbon capture,” Jeff Navin, a former chief of staff at the Energy Department in the Obama administration, told me. “Biden seems to get that coal and gas are either going to die or learn how to be part of a zero-emissions future via carbon capture. That’s the only place they fit in a policy context.”

The difference between Inslee and Biden, is that whereas Inslee has spelled out a concrete plan to get off coal by 2030, and to work with Congress on a fracking ban to have fossil fuel-free electricity by 2035, Biden is less specific with the particulars of his plan.

EPA PROPOSES RULE TO LOOSEN AIR POLLUTION PERMITTING PROCESS TO BOOST PLANT EXPANSIONS: The Environmental Protection Agency issued a proposed rule Thursday to relax requirements for certain power plants and industrial facilities in a way that will allow them to expand operations without undergoing strict new pollution reviews.

The Trump administration has long targeted the New Source Review program for reform, viewing it as overly burdensome on factories or power plants that want to expand or upgrade facilities, discentivizing utilities and companies from investing in efficiency improvements.

For example, fear of having to attain new air pollution permits under NSR has slowed manufacturing facilities from installing more efficient energy technologies, like combined heat and power systems that recycle waste gases to generate heat and electricity to power the plant, rather than venting them into the atmosphere.

“Today’s proposal is an important step towards President Trump’s goal of reforming the elements of NSR that regularly discouraged facilities from upgrading and deploying the latest energy efficient technologies,” said EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler. “By simplifying the permitting process and implementing a common-sense interpretation of our NSR rules, we will remove a major obstacle to the construction of cleaner and more efficient facilities.”

How it works: Under the proposed changes, early in the permitting process, the EPA would consider both the decreases and increases in air pollution that could result from the expansion or modification of a plant, rather than just the increases.

If the results of this evaluation show that emissions increases from the proposed project are offset by emissions decreases resulting from the project, it does not need to obtain new federal air pollution permits.

Greens promise to sue: Environmentalists credit the current program for significant reductions in smog nationwide because of air pollution upgrades required for plant and factor expansions, and they say loosening the rules will endanger public health.

Environmental groups vowed to sue if the EPA finalizes its new rule as proposed.

“The Trump @EPA proposes yet another dirty air rollback to let industrial polluters across America increase dangerous air pollution & evade air pollution controls,” said John Walke, clean air director and senior attorney at the Natural Resources Defense Council, in a Twitter post. “This rollback is reckless & blatantly illegal. @NRDC will fight it, by going to court if EPA adopts this rollback.”

RECORD AMOUNT OF WIND UNDER CONSTRUCTION IN THE US: There was a record amount of wind farms being developed across the U.S. in the second quarter of this year, according to a report released Thursday.

The 41,801 megawatts of wind capacity currently under construction represents a 10% increase over the level of activity this time last year, the American Wind Energy Association said, with strong demand from businesses and utilities.

There are more than 200 wind projects under construction across 33 states.

“Our industry’s success strengthens the U.S. economy because access to affordable, clean American wind power is a competitive advantage in the eyes of business leaders,” said AWEA CEO Tom Kiernan. Texas has the most projects under construction (9,015 megawatts), followed by Wyoming, New Mexico, Iowa, and South Dakota.

The numbers have been bolstered by aggressive offshore wind targets set by states such as Maryland, Connecticut, and New York. Wind is currently supplying more than 20% of electricity in six states.

The Rundown

Washington Post The Greenland ice sheet is in the throes of one of its greatest melting events ever recorded

CNBC Amazon announces new renewable energy projects in the US and Ireland

Reuters Brazil feels pressure over Amazon deforestation data

Axios Electric scooters aren’t as green as they seem

Calendar

MONDAY | August 5

House and Senate in August recess.

WEDNESDAY | August 7

2 p.m. to 4 p.m. The U.S. Energy Association holds a briefing on the status of the 45Q carbon capture tax credit and how to prepare for its usage.