Greetings!
In this week’s issue, we provide an infographic that documents U.S. government nuclear energy investments across various legislative acts. We spotlight PGS President Ken Luongo’s recent appearance on the Global American Business Institute’s (GABI) podcast discussing recent global nuclear market shifts. We also highlight a new Nuclear Innovation Alliance report that provides recommendations on how to catalyze commitments for advanced nuclear energy projects. Finally, we highlight key nuclear technology, security, and geopolitical developments, reports, and analyses.
This issue of Nuclear News and Views was produced by PGS Program Director, Patrick Kendall, and Della Ratta Energy and Global Security Fellow, Emily Day.
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U.S. Government Nuclear Energy Investments in Recent Legislation |
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This infographic illustrates new investments in nuclear energy-related projects across various U.S. legislative acts from 2021 to 2024. The categories include Fuel Enrichment Capacity and Infrastructure, Support for Existing Reactors, Advanced Reactors, Research and Infrastructure, and Military Nuclear Power. Significant investments can be seen in the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, in existing and advanced reactors. The 2024 Consolidated Appropriations Act also shows balanced funding across several categories. The graph highlights the U.S. government’s approach to balancing between maintaining infrastructure, fostering innovation, and responding to geopolitical challenges, underscoring the importance of targeted funding. Tax credits and transferred funds are not included in these calculations, focusing purely on new direct financial investments.
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Emily Day, Della Ratta Fellow, Partnership for Global Security |
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Spotlight
The Partnership for Global Security’s President, Ken Luongo, joined the Global American Business Institute’s (GABI) recent podcast on global nuclear market trends. Mr. Luongo notes that in response to Russia’s rise as a prominent nuclear technology exporter and its invasion of Ukraine, the United States and its allies are making strides to rejuvenate their domestic nuclear and export opportunities as well as limit dependence on Russian fuel. He embraces the commitment to the threefold nuclear capacity increase pledge by 2050 as laid at the COP28 summit but expresses skepticism that the world will meet this goal without dramatic changes in nuclear deployment processes. Mr. Luongo discusses how China has accelerated its domestic nuclear deployment and could become a more active nuclear exporter and the geopolitical challenges that this development would pose. Mr. Luongo adds that the United States and its allies are not adequately prepared to compete with Russia and China on small reactor technology exports to developing nations, despite the significant American financial investment in next-generation reactors. Additionally, he discusses the need for the United States to strengthen nuclear energy and export cooperation with its closest allies.
The Nuclear Innovation Alliance (NIA) published a report on how to catalyze commitments for advanced nuclear energy projects. The report found that potential project sponsors have been slow to commit to advanced nuclear reactor projects due to the unclear business case for first-of-a-kind technologies, uncertainty around development costs, and extended pre-construction timelines. In response to these obstacles, the NIA recommends that private-sector stakeholders commit capital to backstop project completion costs while Congress can pass legislation authorizing the federal government to share completion-risk with developers that commit to project management best practices. Other recommended actions include sharing development costs across multiple offtakers during the pre-construction phase, accepting higher offtake pricing for early projects, and creating price-adjustment mechanisms to absorb unanticipated development cost increases.
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Patrick Kendall, Program Director, Partnership for Global Security |
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The Impact of the Ukraine Invasion on Nuclear Affairs and Exports |
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A 1,000 MW unit at a Ukrainian nuclear power plant has been put back into operation after planned maintenance. This development follows a statement by Ukrenergo’s chairman, Volodymyr Kudrytskyi, that the additional unit would temporarily improve the country's energy situation. Due to ongoing Russian attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure, including thermal power plants, Ukraine has been experiencing significant power shortages, leading to scheduled power outages across the country.
International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi announced that the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant will not be restarted while the ongoing conflict continues to jeopardize nuclear safety and security. His comments followed discussions with Rosatom Director General Alexei Likhachev, emphasizing that operating the plant under current conditions is inadvisable. The plant remains in cold shutdown with its safety functions compromised, relying at times on emergency diesel generators due to the conflict's impact on off-site power access.
IAEA Director Rafael Mariano Grossi met with Ukrainian Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko, Energoatom boss Petro Kotin, and the head of the State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate of Ukraine, Oleg Korikov, where they discussed the impact of attacks on Ukraine's energy infrastructure. Grossi highlighted broader concerns beyond Zaporizhzhia, noting that loss of off-site power could be even more serious due to higher nuclear fuel temperatures in operational reactors, and reported that the plant's cooling pond height is now almost 1.5 meters below its pre-dam destruction level, necessitating the use of newly built groundwater wells for cooling. Additionally, Grossi highlighted the ongoing maintenance at the plant, including repairs to the 750 kV switchyard and the dismantling of damaged components, though full repairs are delayed due to the conflict's impact on power lines.
Ukraine's Energoatom and France's Électricité de France (EDF) signed a new cooperation agreement focused on nuclear technology, renewing their long-standing partnership on the peaceful use of nuclear energy. This agreement includes studying EDF's EPR and Nuward small modular reactor technologies, sharing operational expertise, and diversifying nuclear fuel supplies away from Russia. The renewed agreement, originally signed in 1998, aims to bolster nuclear energy's role in achieving climate goals and ensuring stable, clean electricity production across Europe. The two countries also signed agreements related to French financial support for Ukraine’s critical infrastructure and enterprises.
Ukrainian nuclear company Energoatom has completed pre-winter maintenance on three of its nine nuclear reactors and plans to start maintenance on a fourth reactor soon. Ukraine currently relies heavily on its three operational nuclear power plants for electricity due to Russian missile attacks that have destroyed most of its thermal power plants and at least two hydro stations. This maintenance is part of efforts to mitigate power outages caused by recent missile strikes and to reduce the duration of forced power cuts in the coming autumn.
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The United States has announced new cooperation agreements to support Ghana's plans for deploying a small modular reactor (SMR) and establishing the country as a regional SMR hub. Key agreements were signed at the Africa Nuclear Business Platform meeting, including a memorandum of understanding and contractual agreements for a NuScale Energy Exploration (E2) Centre at the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission. These initiatives aim to provide essential training and workforce development, positioning Ghana as a regional leader in safe and secure civil nuclear energy deployment. The announcements build on a 2022 strategic collaboration between the US, Japan, and Ghana to support SMR deployment, supply chain needs, and build jobs.
The Republic of Guinea signed a memorandum of understanding with Russia's Rosatom to develop floating nuclear power units for electricity supply. The agreement, signed during the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, includes exploring the implementation and terms for these sea-based units equipped with RITM-200 reactors, which have been used for the latest generation of nuclear-powered icebreakers. This cooperation aims to address Guinea's urgent power supply needs by providing a fast, reliable, and environmentally-friendly energy solution, leveraging technology proven effective in Russia's latest nuclear-powered icebreakers.
Burkina Faso signed new memoranda of understanding (MoU) with Russia on nuclear energy cooperation on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. The MoUs cover education and training, infrastructure development, and public opinion. These agreements build on those previously signed by the two sides in October 2023 and March this year which set out a roadmap for the development of cooperation between the two countries with the aim of implementing nuclear energy projects.
China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) has signed agreements with the Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation (ENEC) and Électricité de France (EDF) on strategic cooperation in the peaceful use of nuclear energy. Under the memorandum of understanding with ENEC, the two companies will explore opportunities to collaborate and ensure best practice in the development and operation of nuclear power plants. CNNC’s agreement with EDF will see the two partners strengthen cooperation in various fields related to nuclear power, work together to help China and France achieve their carbon neutrality goals, and generate momentum into improving global nuclear energy governance.
The European SMR Alliance defined a work plan for the rest of 2024, establishing eight working groups to deliver on their objectives. The main objective is to produce a general action plan for the first quarter of 2025, structured around ten tasks such as objectives to be achieved, activities carried out, and products to be delivered. The SMR Alliance is a collection of public and private actors, with European Commission backing, that want to develop an ecosystem for SMRs and advanced reactors in Europe.
Russia approved the construction of a nuclear power plant in Myanmar. The low-power plant, with a capacity of at least 110 megawatts, will use Russian pressurized water reactors and follows a memorandum of understanding signed in 2022 to study the feasibility of such a project. This agreement is part of broader cooperation in nuclear energy between Russia and Myanmar, including the opening of a nuclear technology information center in Yangon and plans to use nuclear technology for peaceful purposes in various sectors.
Japan’s Toshiba has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with equipment manufacturer Rockfin sp z o.o. and maintenance service provider EthosEnergy Poland SA to explore collaboration in equipment supply and maintenance services for Poland’s first nuclear power plant. Toshiba said the next step forward will include detailed discussions between the parties on the scope of collaboration. Poland is working to build its first nuclear power plant at Lubiatowo-Kopalino, with the first AP1000 reactor expected to enter commercial operation in 2033.
The Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) and Danish floating nuclear power plant developer Seaborg signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to collaborate on advancing nuclear technologies such as molten salt reactors. The MoU paves the way for both institutions to leverage their respective research and development expertise and infrastructure to deploy molten salt reactors. Seaborg’s design is for modular compact molten salt reactor power barges equipped with between two and eight 100 MWe reactors.
Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co. (KHNP) has begun constructing a tritium removal facility at Romania's Cernavoda Nuclear Power Plant. The $188 million project, won by KHNP last year, aims to safely extract and store tritium from heavy water. Scheduled for completion by September 2027, this marks KHNP's first engineering, procurement, and construction project in Europe.
Framatome and TerraPower have agreed to design and develop a high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) metallization pilot plant at Framatome’s nuclear fuel manufacturing facility in Washington state. Framatome said the pilot line will initiate a long-term collaboration to supply metal feedstock, helping TerraPower develop a domestic supply chain for HALEU in the United States. TerraPower is currently building a sodium-cooled fast reactor demonstration plant in Wyoming.
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Nuclear Policy, Governance, and Geopolitics |
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China is advancing plans to build a series of floating nuclear reactors in the contested South China Sea. The reactors will be designed to be housed on ships, providing power for both stationary facilities, other vessels, and China’s artificial islands. China began constructing floating nuclear power reactors in 2016, with the most recent plans to resume construction further heightening tensions in the region between China and other nations who lay claim to parts of the South China Sea.
According to multiple wire service reports in the Middle East, Saudi Arabia plans to call for best and final offers (BAFO) for companies offering to build the country’s first nuclear reactors to be submitted by July 1. The proposed Duwaiheen Nuclear Power Plant will likely consist of two 1.4 GW pressurized water reactors and will be developed using a traditional design-and-build model. The four bidders for the contract are China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC), Électricité de France (EDF), Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO), and Rosatom.
Thailand’s Prime Minister, Srettha Thavisin, announced that Thailand is exploring small modular reactor (SMR) technology as the country looks to diversify its energy mix. Alongside green hydrogen and battery storage solutions, Thailand is looking at SMR power plants to make manufacturing more environmentally friendly. Thailand does not currently have any nuclear reactors, but had previously sought to develop a nuclear power plant by 2020 until the Fukushima nuclear accident shelved the project in 2011.
South Korea will invest 2.5 trillion won ($1.8 billion) in developing next-generation nuclear reactor technologies by 2034. The investment aims to foster private companies that can build next-generation nuclear reactors and commercialize the technology. South Korea plans to secure key technologies for developing small modular reactors (SMR) with the aim of entering the global SMR market in the 2030s. The Ministry of Science and ICT stated that it will release a detailed roadmap for advanced reactor development later this year.
Hyundai E&C signed a memorandum of understanding with the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) to commercialize next-generation modular reactors. The two entities will develop sodium-cooled fast reactors (SFT), as well as collaborate on commercialization and export initiatives, reciprocal personal assistance, and consultation. Since 2022, KAERI and Hyundai E&C have collaborated across various areas including light-water reactor-based SMRs and the utilization of nuclear energy for hydrogen production.
Swedish power utility Vattenfall has shortlisted two companies for the construction of a small modular reactor (SMR) at the Ringhals nuclear power station. According to the recent announcement, Vattenfall will decide between Rolls-Royce SMR and GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy to build the SMR, with Vattenfall adding it was also continuing to investigate the conditions for building large-scale reactors on the site. Last year, Sweden’s government said it wanted to massively ramp up nuclear energy, increasing production equivalent to two nuclear reactors by 2035.
The incoming government of the Netherlands will support the construction of at least four new utility-scale nuclear power reactors as part of a program to more than triple the amount of money committed to fund nuclear projects. The new coalition government will reportedly earmark $15.2 billion for a nuclear power construction program. Dutch media also reported that officials have a tender planned to determine the technology for at least the first two nuclear projects, with officials adding they are considering buying a stake in the existing Borssele Nuclear Power Plant if officials decide to extend its current operation beyond 2033.
Rosatom and French nuclear energy company Orano have denied they held talks about a potential deal regarding uranium assets held by Orano in Niger. Orano said in a statement that it was not aware of any discussions with Rosatom or other Russian entities in response to a report from Bloomberg that Rosatom sought to take over Orano’s uranium assets in Niger. Niger has the highest-grade uranium ores in Africa and is the seventh-biggest uranium producer in the world.
The IAEA Board of Governors voted to censure Iran for failing to cooperate fully with the agency, calling on Tehran to provide answers in a long-running investigation and reverse its decision to bar several IAEA inspectors from Iranian nuclear sites. The censure follows a recent report from the IAEA that found Iran has increased its stockpile of uranium enriched to near weapons-grade levels. In response, Iran’s Foreign Ministry condemned the decision and called the move political.
Following its annual scheduled shutdown, Bulgaria’s Kozloduy Nuclear Power Plant unit 5 has restarted with 43 Westinghouse-produced cartridges loaded into the reactor as the country aims to transition away from Russian-supplied nuclear fuel. In addition to this fuel agreement with Westinghouse, Kozloduy has also signed an agreement with France’s Framatome to supply fuel for unit 6. Bulgaria is one of a number of countries in the European Union who are in the process of switching away from Russian nuclear fuel for their reactors.
The IAEA conducted its Site and External Events Design Review Service (SEED) mission to Sri Lanka. The SEED mission reviews Sri Lanka’s selection process to identify potential sites for the construction of the country’s first nuclear power plant, and the team also visited and observed one of Sri Lanka’s candidate sites in Pulmoddal. The IAEA team offered numerous recommendations for Sri Lanka to optimize the site evaluation process, suggesting that the Sri Lanka Atomic Energy Board (SLAEB) should further align the siting process to the IAEA Safety Standard Series No. SSG-35, Site Survey and Site Selection for Nuclear Installations.
The United Kingdom’s National Nuclear Laboratory (NNL) has selected engineering services company Jacobs to help develop novel high-temperature gas-cooled reactor (HTGR) technology that could support the decarbonization of heavy industry. As the NNL’s design consultant, Jacobs will review initial designs and delivery plans for the HTGR, as well as review market demand and end-use cases for HTGR technology and help develop cost and schedule estimates. Jacobs will be joining a joint NNL-Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) project that is developing the United Kingdom’s first modular HTGR.
Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom announced it has developed an innovative crystallization refining technology for the purification and separation of nuclear materials from used nuclear fuel. Rosatom said that scientists from its Proryv project will implement the new technology at the facility for reprocessing irradiated uranium-plutonium fuel as part of the pilot energy complex being built at the Siberian Chemical Combine. Russia’s Proryv project aims to enable a closed nuclear fuel cycle, ultimately eliminating production of radioactive waste from nuclear power generation.
Ontario Power Generation (OPG) has signed a memorandum of understanding with Stellarex to explore the development and deployment of fusion energy in Ontario. The partnership will see the two organizations work together to identify potential future siting and deployment of a stellarator fusion energy device in Ontario, as well as exploring a center of excellence for fusion energy. Stellarex has already established supply-chain and fusion relationships in Ontario and in Canada’s nuclear sector, including memoranda with Canadian Nuclear Laboratories and Kinectrics.
Russia’s federal and Yakutia regional ministries are actively working to change the existing plans for Russia’s first land-based small modular reactor (SMR) project in Yakutia into a two-reactor scheme. The SMR is a water-cooled RITM-200N 55 MW reactor that has been adapted from the RITM-200 series used to power Russia’s latest fleet of nuclear-powered icebreakers. Russia aims to commission the SMR project in 2028.
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Domestic Civil Nuclear Developments |
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During an event to mark the completion of the newest units at the Vogtle Nuclear Power Plant in Georgia, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm called on the United States to at least triple its current nuclear capacity to meet the United States’ net-zero emissions goal by 2050. At the event, Granholm said that restarting recently retired nuclear plants could also play a part in meeting the need for new capacity. In a later interview with Reuters, Granholm added that the Biden administration is asking big technology companies to invest in clean energy generation such as small modular reactors (SMR) to meet the rise in energy demand driven by data centers.
TerraPower chairman and founder Bill Gates joined company colleagues, government officials, and project partners for the groundbreaking ceremony of the Natrium nuclear power plant in Kemmerer, Wyoming. The ceremony marks the start of non-nuclear construction at the site, and comes weeks after the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) accepted TerraPower's application for a construction permit. Nuclear construction will begin after the application is approved, with TerraPower eyeing the start of work on the nuclear island in 2026 and construction spanning five years. The Natrium is a 345 MWe sodium-cooled fast reactor with a molten salt-based energy storage system.
The U.S. Army is asking nuclear companies to submit their proposals for microreactors that can be commissioned at military bases to provide reliable power at two military bases. The bid solicitation window will last two weeks, during which the Army is asking for very high-level proposals from advanced reactor companies. Following the initial submission period, top contenders for the project will be invited back for pitch sessions, and full contracts will then be negotiated. The Defense Innovation Unit is managing the bid process on behalf of the Army and has set a goal of having two microreactors operational at military bases by 2030.
The Biden administration held the Summit on Domestic Nuclear Deployment to highlight the collective progress being made across the public and private sectors on nuclear energy deployment. Among the announcements is the formation of a new working group to look at ways to reduce nuclear construction project risks: the Nuclear Power Project Management and Delivery Group. Other accomplishments include the release of a new primer on the enhanced safety of advanced nuclear reactors and a program to deploy advanced reactors to power multiple military sites in the United States.
The Biden administration announced new funding, research, and collaboration measures to accelerate efforts towards a pilot-scale fusion energy demonstration. Through the Department of Energy’s Office of Fusion Energy Science, the government will make $180 million available for Fusion Innovation Research Engine (FIRE) collaborative teams working to bridge foundational research and technologies. The Department of Energy also announced awards totaling $46 million to 8 companies to speed the development of private sector-led fusion plants.
Bisconti and the Quest Mindshare Online Panel conducted The National Nuclear Energy Public Survey, surveying 1,000 nationally representative U.S. adults. The poll found that 77% of respondents favored the use of nuclear energy as one of the ways to provide electricity in the United States, with just 23% opposing nuclear energy. Opinions about license renewal and constructing new nuclear reactors were also found to be overwhelmingly favorable in 2024, with 88% agreeing that the licenses of nuclear power plants that continue to meet federal safety standards should be renewed.
Microreactor startup Radiant Industries has announced that the Department of Energy has reviewed and approved the Safety Design Strategy for its Kaleidos microreactor in the National Reactor Innovation Center’s Demonstration of Microreactor Experiments (DOME) testbed at the Idaho National Laboratory. Following its successful completion of reactor testing, Radiant expects to deliver a limited number of pre-ordered Kaleidos units as soon as 2028. The Kaleidos is a 1 MWe high-temperature gas-cooled portable microreactor.
California lawmakers rejected Governor Gavin Newsom’s bid to include another $400 million for Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) in the state budget as lawmakers are in a standoff over the state’s decision to keep the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant open. With California currently facing a deficit, legislative leaders have cut the money in their recent budget proposal and raised concerns that the state may never be paid back for hundreds of millions in loans to PG&E. In 2022, Governor Newsom cut a $1.4 billion deal to keep the Diablo Canyon plant operational until 2030.
The Senate Energy and Natural Resource Committee approved three nominees to be commissioners on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and also confirmed Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) chair Christopher Hanson for a second five-year term at the agency. The nominees for the FERC are Judy Chang, David Rosner, and Lindsay See. The full Senate now must vote on the FERC nominees before they can take their seats at the agency.
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Several scientists wrote an article in the journal, Science, expressing concern that high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) poses security risks. The authors believe HALEU is dangerous because it could be used without further enrichment as a material in nuclear weapons. The article notes that the IAEA defines uranium enriched to 20% and above as the threshold for nuclear weapons usable material, but questions that long-standing demarcation. HALEU can be enriched up to 19.5% and it is required to fuel many advanced reactor designs that are under development. HALEU currently is only available from Russia. The U.S. recently enacted a ban on the import of enriched uranium from Russia that enters into force in August 2024. The authors recommend that if uranium enrichment is limited to 10% or 12%, the supply chain would be far safer with only modest additional impacts. They also call for an assessment of the risk posed by HALEU by the U.S. government. The U.S. Inflation Reduction Act provided $700 million for a HALEU availability program to create a supply chain for planned advanced reactors. The material has already been created by Centrus with more in process. The Emergency National Security Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2024 provided and additional $2.7 billion for LEU and HALEU enrichment in the U.S.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) has found that global investment in clean energy technologies will climb to $2 trillion in 2024, almost double the amount spent on fossil fuels. This record-setting funding will be devoted to sectors such as renewables, nuclear power, and electric vehicles. Solar power is leading clean energy’s transformation, with investment in the area set to reach $500 billion this year. IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol added that this growth is underpinned by strong economics, continued cost reductions, and considerations of energy security heightened by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
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The Breakthrough Institute, June 12
Bloomberg, June 12
Australian Financial Review, July 12
The Diplomat, June 11
The New York Times, June 11
Yahoo! Finance, June 11
Bechtel, June 10
Silicon Republic, June 10
The Toledo Blade, June 9
The Wall Street Journal, June 7
Axios, June 6
Business Insider, June 6
The Washington Post, June 5
Georgetown Journal of International Affairs, June 3
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News items and summaries compiled by:
Patrick Kendall, Program Manager, Partnership for Global Security
Emily Day, Della Ratta Fellow, Partnership for Global Security
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For twenty-five years the Partnership for Global Security (PGS) has developed actionable responses to global security challenges by engaging international, private sector, and multidisciplinary expert partners to assess policy needs, identify effective strategies, and drive demonstrable results.
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