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Omnibus appropriation includes $180M
The Idaho Falls Post Register, which retains published content behind a firewall accessible only to subscribers, has two reports today on nuclear energy that are worth your attention.
The first is that the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) has done well in the FY2009 budget which was finally cleared by Congress nearly six months after it was due. The second is that Areva’s uranium enrichment plant to be built in Idaho is on schedule
INL nuclear funding news
Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Ida.) (right) who represents the 2nd CD in which the lab is located, was very pleased with the outcome of the 2009 omnibus appropriation bill. He told the newspaper,
"I will tell you this is an incredibly good budget for the INL."
However, Sen. Mike Crapo (R-Ida.) said he will vote against the Senate version of the omnibus bill because he objects to other unrelated spending items in it. He endorsed the provisions that provide money for the Idaho Cleanup Project ($475.7M) and for new infrastructure for the R&D lab ($140M).
According to a press release from Simpson's office, the bill provides $180M for the Next Generation Nuclear Plant, which is likely to be a high temperature gas cooled reactor (HTGR). The plant when built will have the ability to generate electricity, make hydrogen, and supply process heat steam to industry. The bill also provides $145M for advanced nuclear fuel R&D.
While this is all good news, it is still six months late, and it still has the NGNP project behind the curve when it comes to its schedule. INL R&D managers said in April 2008 that the pace of funding for NGNP will set back the schedule to break ground by 2016 to build a 300 MW prototype reactor at the INL.
There are various estimates of when this would take place, but some are as late as 2020 by which time the current team of NGNP scientists will have long since retired. To counter that outcome, the INL told its employees this week it was considering a “human capital” strategy that would contain incentives to stretch out retirement dates.
Good news for NGNP R&D
Despite funding delays, the news from Congress is good for the nuclear R&D program. The Post Register asked me to comment on the current funding. Here's what they printed, which is an accurate report of what I said.
Dan Yurman, an Idaho Falls-based nuclear blogger, said the U.S. is far behind China and South Africa on nailing down a next-generation plant design. By the time the U.S. is ready to market a design, he said, China will be exporting its own.
To close the gap, the U.S. will have to forge partnerships with South Africa or China -- or both -- or commit full funding to the development of a commercial model of the next-generation plant. One hundred eighty-million dollars won't do the trick, he said.
"It's great money for (a research-and-development) program, but it's not going to build your prototype reactor," he said.
I've said for more than two years on this blog that the Department of Energy is missing the boat on time-to-market for this technology. China has launched a commercial project to build a pebble bed reactor and South Africa has fabricated fuel for one. The NRC published a licensing strategy for NGNP, but an application for design certification for a U.S. plant could be years away.
PBMR steams ahead
Meanwhile, the NRC reports that South Africa’s PBMR Ltd. has notified the agency it plans to submit a pebble bed reactor design for certification in late 2009. That date could be pushed back due to the financial difficulties Eskom, one of the chief sponsors of the project, is having raising funds for its ambitious nuclear program.
That hasn’t stopped PBMR from keeping its eye on time-to-market issues. It is probably feeling the competitive heat from China's announcement it has launched a commercial version of the pebble bed reactor.
The South African firm said this month that the global financial crisis and related impact on funding, particularly on the South African electricity utility Eskom, has prompted the company to consider near-term market opportunities based on customer requirements to service both the electricity and process heat markets.
One of the considerations is the modification of the design planned for the Demonstration Power Plant project at Koeberg near Cape Town to also service potential customers such as oil sands producers in Canada (to produce the temperature and associated pressure needed to extract bitumen from oil sands) and the South African petro-chemical company Sasol (to either produce process steam and/or hydrogen to upgrade coal products). Another potential application is the use of the PBMR’s high temperatures for desalination.
Here are some links to prior reports on this blog.
- 11/07/08 - NGNP Project faces multiple hurdles
- 07/27/08 - Small reactors have NRC’s attention
- 04/29/08 - How will Idaho lab build NGNP?
- 04/08/08 - Idaho’s long range vision for NGNP
- 03/14/08 - PBMR headed for Idaho?
- 12/14/07 - NGNP costs higher than expected
Areva enrichment plant on schedule
The Idaho Falls Post Register reports that the Arvea $2B uranium enrichment plant, announced last May, and due to break ground in 2011 at a site about 18 miles west of Idaho Falls, ID, is on schedule.
The newspaper reported from Boise that Areva VP Bob Poyser gave a presentation to the Idaho State Legislature where he said the project is moving ahead. He noted that once the NRC "dockets" the application (NRC web page) a series of public hearings will take place which will include a review of the environmental impact study.
The Snake River Alliance (SRA), an Idaho-based anti-nuclear group, has filed an objection to the plant's use of water, but this isn't expected to impact the schedule Poyser said. He told the Post Register's legislative reporter Nick Draper the plant will use about as much water as a golf course.
Draper reported that in the SRA protest letter, Andrea Shipley, the alliance's executive director, said the transfer would "injure other water rights, constitute an enlargement of the original right, is not a beneficial use and isn't in the public interest."
The Areva plant enjoys overwhelming support in Idaho Falls where hundreds of people have twice turned out to show public support for the new facility.
Prior coverage
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Idaho Samizdat is a blog about the political and economic aspects of nuclear energy and nonproliferation issues. It covers the nuclear energy industry globally. Additionally, the blog has regional coverage on uranium mining in the western U.S. Link to original post
