General Category > Energy

The Global Race for Advanced Nuclear Is On

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Elderberry:
Nuclear Innovation Alliance

Takeaways

In 2021, Third Way, Pillsbury Law, ClearPath, Nuclear Innovation Alliance, and Clean Air
Task Force unveiled a map of planned and active advanced nuclear demonstration
projects around the world, showing clear evidence that advanced reactor technologies
are not merely conceptual.

Since the 2021 map, there has been marked progress in advanced nuclear
demonstrations across the globe. Across North America and Europe, many new projects
have emerged and existing projects have reached new milestones in siting, licensing,
construction, and otake arrangements. We also saw new advanced reactor projects
take shape on the African continent in countries like Ghana and Rwanda.

At the same time, China and Russia continue to lead in terms of licensing, constructing, and
operating advanced reactors.

It is clear that the success of advanced reactor demonstration and deployment is directly
linked to government funding and support. In the United States, this means added
urgency on federal support for commercializing advanced nuclear at home:

expeditiously standing up fuel supply, modernizing the licensing processes, ensuring
that our vanguard demonstrations are able to cross the nish line as quickly as possible,
and providing nancing tools to facilitate the build-out of these technologies at scale.

In 2021, a coalition of organizations—Third Way, Pillsbury Law, ClearPath, Nuclear Innovation
Alliance, and Clean Air Task Force—released an interactive map of advanced nuclear demonstration
projects around the world at various stages of completion. Under the title, “Turning the Corner,”
the map and narrative descriptions of progress on global deployment were intended to show that
advanced nuclear technologies are very real—that we are now at the cusp of witnessing the
commercialization of advanced reactors worldwide.

In just a few short years, there has been considerable progress on this front, with new projects
emerging and ongoing projects either advancing towards or reaching completion. And more
recently, commercial deals and otake agreements for these technologies are starting to emerge
(see the Google-Kairos agreement and the Amazon deal with X-energy). These developments have prompted the coalition to update the map, revealing both growing interest and movement in advanced reactor technologies globally.

Key Takeaways from this Update

The original 2021 map showed more than 30 commercial-scale demonstrations internationally,
including details on technology types, vendors, sites, and estimated completion dates. The 2024
update tracks nearly 80 advanced nuclear demonstration projects, but these numbers do not tell the
full story.

There has been significant progress in North America on advanced nuclear projects.

Although developments on advanced nuclear projects are occurring around the world, there has
been pronounced progress in North American projects that is now resulting in landmark commercial
deals to spur advanced reactor deployment, such as the Google-Kairos agreement and Amazon’s
$500 million investment into X-energy. New advanced reactor demonstrations have been proposed
and announced in both the United States and Canada over the last few years, and a number of
ongoing projects identied back in 2021 have steadily advanced in maturity—achieving new
milestones in development and licensing as they move towards construction, operation, and
commercial entry. In late December 2023, the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) approved a
construction permit for Kairos Power’s Hermes Demonstration Reactor in Oak Ridge, Tennessee—
the rst non-light water reactor approved for construction in the US in over half a century—with
Kairos starting construction activities in July 2024.

More: https://nuclearinnovationalliance.org/sites/default/files/2024-10/The_Global_Race_for_Advanced_Nuclear_Is_On_0.pdf


--- Quote ---My son just started working for Kairos Power in Albuquerque
--- End quote ---

The_Reader_David:
Good.

Bigun:
Excellent information @Elderberry thanks for taking the time to post it.

The ONLY reason we don't have abundant, very inexpensive, electricity is $$$ and politics!

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