Daily on Energy: NRC pressured to speed up, oil drops, and US tightens sanctions

In a letter sent on Tuesday, NGOs such as Third Way, ClearPath Action, Good Energy Collective, Clean Air Task Force, and the Nuclear Innovation Alliance asked the Commission to develop a policy approach that addresses “efficient, effective, and predictable licensing” of new reactors, requesting explicit licensing timelines, performance standards, and commitments to creating an internal process for resolving disagreements between nuclear applicants and NRC staff, along with fostering a “culture of continuous improvement.”

The NRC “has a critical role in the future development and deployment of U.S. nuclear energy technology,” the letter reads. “As such, it is imperative that the NRC’s interactions are as efficient, effective, and predictable as possible so that both NRC staff and applicants are confident in the regulatory process.”

The groups requested the commission to come up with specific goals that provide clarification on licensing deadlines, calling for “first-of-a-kind” reactor applications to take no longer than two years to be licensed, while “next-of-a-kind” reactor applications (those that are repeated deployments of previous nuclear designs) cannot take longer than 12 months from being approved.

The groups are also asking for the commission to take an average of 30 days for acceptance reviews, and clarify expectations on what elements the commission should be focusing on in their application reviews.

Why this is important: The NRC issues license applications for new reactors in various stages of review – but it can take up to five years to complete the process, according to the Energy Information Administration. 

What’s currently happening in the NRC: The commission is currently developing a regulatory framework to license advanced reactors, with an expected completion date of July 2025. In the meantime, however, the NRC will use existing regulations to license advanced reactors. Generally, the NRC has used these regulations to evaluate and license light-water reactors, which are traditional, yet more expensive forms of reactors that the U.S. has historically relied on for nuclear power.

Judi Greenwald, the Executive Director of the Nuclear Innovation Alliance, said the current rules that the NRC uses to certify projects are outdated – and with a number of developers engaging with the commission to get their projects approved, the lack of rules for advanced reactors could elongate the process.

“To help us solve climate change, we need the next generation of nuclear-at-scale,” Greenwald told the Washington Examiner. “And for that, we need standardization both on the part of the NRC and also on part of the applicants.”

A number of groups have called for the modernization of the NRC. In October, the NIA released a two-page primer on different NRC reforms that they deem as necessary to advance nuclear energy. The Government Accountability Office released a report in July that offers different recommendations for the agency to better prepare itself to license advanced reactors. And with the U.S. further investing in nuclear to help reach its decarbonization goals, the demand for faster deployment of projects is likely to increase over time.

Welcome to Daily on Energy, written by Washington Examiner Energy and Environment Writers Breanne Deppisch (@breanne_dep) and Nancy Vu (@NancyVu99). Email [email protected] or [email protected] for tips, suggestions, calendar items, and anything else. If a friend sent this to you and you’d like to sign up, click here. If signing up doesn’t work, shoot us an email, and we’ll add you to our list.

OIL FALLS ON NEWS OF U.S. CRUDE BUILD AND SLUGGISH CHINA DEMAND:  Oil prices fell by nearly $4 per barrel today as markets reacted to higher U.S. crude stocks, which increased by a whopping 3.6 million barrels last week, as well as continued slow demand from China, pointing to an extended slowdown in refinery activity.

Futures for international benchmark Brent crude dropped to near $77 a barrel as of the early afternoon, while futures for U.S.-based West Texas Intermediate fell below $73.

U.S. SLAPS NEW SANCTIONS ON RUSSIAN OIL PRICE CAP VIOLATERS: The Biden administration announced new sanctions today on several shipping companies and vessels for transporting Russian oil above the price cap, making good on its pledge to step up enforcement measures on entities that evade the G-7-backed cap.

Treasury officials said the three entities sanctioned were all UAE-based companies and vessels that used U.S.-person services while shipping oil above the $60 cap on Russian crude.

The entities sanctioned were Kazan Shipping, Progress Shipping, and Gallion Navigation. The sanctioned entities will see all their U.S. assets frozen, Breanne reports, and will be restricted from any transactions with U.S. individuals unless specifically authorized by Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, or OFAC.

“Shipping companies and vessels participating in the Russian oil trade while using Price Cap Coalition service providers should fully understand that we will hold them accountable for compliance,” Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo said in a statement.

Bigger picture: The sanctions come amid mounting data that Russia is continuing to ship large amounts of its crude oil above the cap. One senior European Union official told the Financial Times this week that “almost none” of Russia’s seaborne crude exports in October was sold under the cap.

OFAC also sent notices to shippers in 30 countries this month seeking information on some 100 separate vessels that it believes were continuing to ship Russian crude above the cap.

EU leaders are also cracking down: Meanwhile, the European Commission is also weighing new actions to reinforce the price cap, including adding new export control mechanisms to its upcoming sanctions package, slated to come up for a formal vote on Friday. Danish authorities would be tasked with inspecting and blocking any oil tankers that sail through its waters and are found to be violating the price cap, FT reports.

Roughly 60% of Russia’s Baltic Sea crude exports cross through the Danish strait to reach international markets, making it a key waypoint for Western leaders to examine and enforce the terms of the cap. Read more from Breanne here.

HOCHSTEIN SAYS IRAN OIL SANCTIONS WILL BE ENFORCED: The U.S. will enforce oil sanctions against Iran amid the conflict in the Middle East, State Department senior adviser for energy security Amos Hochstein said Wednesday on Bloomberg Television. 

“We are going to enforce those sanctions,” Hochstein said, referencing what he said amounted to more than 1 million barrels a day of oil exports from Iran. “Those numbers will come down.”

Hochstein’s remarks answer questions that were circulating around whether the U.S. would tighten restrictions on Iranian oil exports following the Oct. 7 attack on Israel by Hamas militants – for which Iran voiced its approval.

Just last month, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said that the Biden administration was not against new sanctions against Iran, while rejecting the notion that the U.S. has gradually relaxed some enforcement of sanctions on Iranian oil sales as a reconciliation effort between the two countries. Read more on that here. 

JUST TWO CHARGERS BUILT UNDER INFRASTRUCTURE LAW PROGRAM: In the two years since the Biden administration approved a $5 billion project to build out public EV charging infrastructure across the country, just two charging projects have been approved—one in Ohio and another in Pennsylvania, according to a new report from the Alliance for Automotive Innovation.

That is in part because of various eligibility hurdles for states and counties looking to receive the funds. It’s a major headache for drivers weighing a switch to EVs. While EV sales grew 57% in the first half of 2023, public chargers grew by just 11% in the same period–adding to the range anxiety cited by many would-be EV drivers. Read more from AAI here.

SWEDEN TO FINANCE MASSIVE NUCLEAR BUILD-OUT: Sweden is moving forward with a “massive” buildout of new nuclear power projects, government officials said today, as part of the larger push to build out more carbon-free power sources and help meet the country’s fast-rising power demand.

Swedish Energy Minister Ebba Busch said the country will bring online the equivalent of two new conventional nuclear reactors by 2035, and will look to add the equivalent of 10 additional conventional nuclear reactors by 2045— some of which will likely be small modular reactors, or SMRs.

“It’s decisive for the green transition, for Swedish jobs and at heart for the welfare of our citizens,” Busch said at a press conference today.

Sweden has already offered some $371 billion in loan guarantees to support nuclear power projects, and plans to work with utilities to share in the cost of the new projects and offset the burden for consumers.

“We’re providing the necessary market conditions by saying the state will step in and assume some of the risk,” Swedish Finance Minister Elisabeth Svantesson told reporters. “We are tearing down the obstacles.”

Still, the push is controversial in Sweden: The country voted to get rid of nuclear power in 1980, but is also on track to double its power consumption in the next 10 years, prompting the push to build out more nuclear capacity. It is expected to commit to a declaration at this year’s COP28 summit that calls for a tripling of global nuclear capacity by 2050, a push also supported by the U.S., the UK, and France, a nuclear powerhouse.

DOE RULE PROPOSES CHANGES TO NEPA: The Department of Energy is proposing a rule change that would aim to speed up the permitting process for certain clean energy projects, Nancy reports. 

The agency on Wednesday night announced proposed changes to its rule governing compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act, a 1970 law that requires federal agencies to assess the environmental effects of projects before approval. The changes would essentially speed up the process of getting certain clean energy projects approved, as they would qualify for the “simplest form of environmental review” under the law.

The projects that would qualify include energy storage systems, transmission line upgrades, and solar technology.

“DOE carefully considered its experience with energy storage, transmission line upgrades, and solar energy projects to propose a simpler environmental review process,” the announcement reads. “Under the proposed changes, DOE would continue to look closely at each proposed project while being able to complete its environmental review responsibilities in a faster and less expensive manner.”

These projects would qualify as categorical exclusions under NEPA — projects the DOE found can be excluded from a detailed environmental analysis since they do not significantly affect the environment. Projects that require environmental assessments and impact statements, however, require longer analysis and therefore take longer to approve. Read more on that here.

BMW HAS MADE ITS LAST INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE IN GERMANY: BMW has made its last V8 engine at its plant in Munich, according to InsideEVs. It will still make gas engines at plants in the United Kingdom and Austria, but it’s all EV engines in Germany now.

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