State roundup: Momentum from Arkansas to Alaska
In recent weeks, states around the nation have taken various steps forward in the development of their nuclear sectors, including in Alaska, Arkansas, Delaware, and Utah. Read on for a roundup of events.
Alaska: Idaho-based reactor start-up NuCube Energy signed a memorandum of understanding with Alaska Fund to create a new joint initiative called NuAlaska. This initiative will see the two groups collaborating to facilitate the deployment of NuCube’s NuSun-1 reactor in the state. Alaska Fund will lead the financing, construction, and ownership of the turnkey project.
Of note, Alaska Fund should not be confused with the Alaska Permanent Fund. The latter refers to a sovereign wealth fund managed by an Alaskan state-owned corporation, while the former (the involved party in this MOU) is a company that “connects private capital with transformative Alaska projects,” per a July 30 press release from NuCube.
NuCube, which was previously selected for the Department of Energy’s Nuclear Energy Launch Pad, is pursuing a TRISO-fueled, heat pipe–cooled, solid-state design rated at 1.3 MWe. The company has not released timelines for DOE approval, Nuclear Regulatory Commission engagement, or deployment via Launch Pad or in Alaska.
Arkansas: Last spring, Arkansas passed Act 707, which charged the state’s Department of Energy and Environment to conduct a nuclear feasibility study in conjunction with a private consulting firm. That study would determine the socioeconomic and environmental impacts of new nuclear generation in the state.
On July 24, the final 533-page study was published. That lengthy report, summarized briefly in its opening, concludes that “new nuclear is feasible and advisable in Arkansas. The state needs the energy, workable sites exist, federal support is the strongest it has been in decades, and state law needs only modest changes.”
The study notes that Entergy will cease burning coal at White Bluff and Independence power plants by 2028 and 2030, respectively. The strain of this supply decrease is being exacerbated by increasing demand, and, in the study’s view, “nuclear fills that gap better than any footprint” because it is firm, nonemitting, safe, and has a small footprint.
While the study does not explicitly advocate for new nuclear deployments in the state to utilize Westinghouse’s AP1000 design, it does describe the gigawatt-scale pressurized water reactor as the “most regulatorily and industrially mature large reactor option for U.S. deployment,” allowing for substantial reductions in “first of-a-kind regulatory and execution uncertainty.”
Delaware: A year ago, the Delaware Senate passed Senate Concurrent Resolution 18, which created a state Nuclear Energy Feasibility Task Force. That task force was charged with generating a report that examined the technical and logistical feasibility of deploying small modular reactors in the state, along with economic, regulatory, and environmental analyses.
On July 27, the task force’s final 51-page report was published. That report came back with a positive but balanced review of the future of nuclear power in Delaware, and noted that the group voted to replace all references to “SMRs” in its findings and recommendations to “nuclear power,” explaining that “the issue of whether nuclear power should play a role in Delaware’s energy profile was broader than simply a discussion and analysis of SMRs.”
In all, the group urged the state to develop a trained workforce, engage with the public and local governments proactively, and generally lay the foundation for nuclear as part of Delaware’s long-term future. However, the report also concluded that the state’s urgent needs for energy generation will not be met by nuclear, because any project “would not generate electricity before the mid-to-late 2030s at the earliest.”
Utah: Nuclea Energy, an Ontario, Canada–based reactor start-up, signed an MOU last week with the Utah Office of Energy Development to explore siting a test reactor at Utah San Rafael Energy Lab (USREL)—the site of Valar Atomics’ headline-making Ward 250 demonstration reactor.
Nuclea has dubbed the reactor at the core of its plans Morpheus. The 3.5-MWe reactor employs a lead-cooled, graphite-moderated, and HALEU-fueled design. Among a sea of competitors pursuing a variety of exotic reactor types, Nuclea’s plans stand out as particularly notable. While both Russia and Sweden (through Rosatom and Blykalla, respectively) are pursuing their own takes on lead-cooled reactor designs, both of those designs are unmoderated fast reactors.
Lead-cooled moderated reactors do have some historical precedent, though. The Soviet Union operated several lead-bismuth cooled, beryllium-moderated reactors as part of its Alfa-class submarine fleet. For its part, the United States has no operational experience with lead-cooled reactors, regardless of moderation.
