A National Demonstration Project Building the Next Generation

The U.S., and the world to a greater extent, needs more electrical power generating plants. In the U.S. alone some estimates say that over the next 20 years more than 400,000 MWe of new generation will be needed. This in a period when domestic oil and gas production decreases while consumption increases. Consequently, the U.S. grows more and more dependent on foreign energy sources today importing approximately 60% of our needs. Consider also that the U.S., once the world leader in all nuclear technology, no long leads the world in this technology and each day that goes by the U.S. nuclear infrastructure becomes less and less robust. Due to its improved safety, reliability/economics and emission free generation nuclear power is once more seen as an important energy source in many countries. In 2000, the number of operating nuclear power plants worldwide increased to 438, with 36 new plants under construction. Unfortunately, no new reactor orders have been placed in the US since 1979. When one considers national issues such as reducing environmental emissions, reallocation and conservation of limited natural resources and domestic energy security, the need for new nuclear generation is essential. While the hurdles facing the deployment of newmore » nuclear generation in the U.S. are certainly formidable, the consequences of inaction in this regard are intolerable. In partnership with industry, the Department of Energy should move forward with an aggressive effort in support of deployment of an advanced nuclear power reactor incorporating state-of-the-art safety and proliferation resistant systems. This effort should be structured so as to significantly advance the timetable by which the systems would be available for commercial deployment by taking advantage of ongoing efforts currently underway at DOE and industry. The effort should be sequenced, to the extent possible, so that it can best reflect, both with respect to schedule and capability, the evolving national energy situation, and in a way which supports U.S. environmental objectives. A key element of this effort will be the reestablishment and maintenance of an industrial base, which can be accessed in response to changing national energy needs. Right now, in a cooperative program through the U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. and Russian dollars are paying for over 700 Russian nuclear scientists and engineers to complete design work on the Gas Turbine - Modular Helium Reactor (GT-MHR), a next generation nuclear power plant that is melt-down proof, substantially more efficient that the existing generation of reactors, creates substantially less waste and is extremely proliferation resistant. To date, the Russians are providing world class engineering design work, resulting in the program being on track to begin construction of this first of a kind reactor by the end of 2005. Just as important in parallel with this effort, a number of key U.S. utilities are speaking with Congress and the Administration to 'piggy back' off this U.S./Russian effort to promote a joint private-public partnership to construct in parallel a similar first of a kind reactor in the U.S. (authors)« less