U.S. and Polish officials continue strategic talksNuclear NewsPublic PolicyMarch 11, 2020, 9:22AM|Nuclear News StaffThe third Strategic Dialogue on Energy between government officials from Poland and the United States was held on February 26 as a way to extend the nations’ advanced nuclear energy cooperation. U.S. Secretary of Energy Dan Brouillette met with Piotr Naimski, Poland’s secretary of state in the chancellery of the prime minister and plenipotentiary for strategic energy infrastructure, and Poland’s Minister of Climate Michal Kurtyka at the Department of Energy headquarters in Washington, D.C. In a DOE press release, Brouillette acknowledged the U.S. nuclear industry’s continued interest in providing clean, reliable, and resilient nuclear energy to Poland as a means to strengthen their energy security. In a post on Twitter, Kurtyka described the meeting as “fruitful.”U.S. Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette (third from left) met with Poland’s Minister of Climate Michal Kurtyka (fourth from left) and Poland’s Secretary of State Piotr Naimski (fifth from left) as part of the third U.S.–Poland Strategic Dialogue on Energy. The meetings began in 2019 as a way to further cooperation between the nations in regard to Poland’s nascent nuclear power industry. Photo: DOEBrouillette, Naimski, and Kurtyka also agreed to further cooperation in the field of cybersecurity. The DOE said the United States plans to offer support for PolEx 2020, a cybersecurity workshop exercise held in Poland with the goal of bolstering the country’s cybersecurity preparedness and response efforts. The ministers also expressed their eagerness to continue and to build upon the strategic energy partnership that exists between the United States and Poland.The U.S.–Poland Strategic Dialogue on Energy was first announced by President Trump and Polish President Duda at their White House meeting in September 2018. Former Secretary of Energy Rick Perry launched the Dialogue in Warsaw in November 2018 and held the first two Strategic Dialogues on Energy in 2019. The nations signed a memorandum of understanding in June 2019 concerning cooperation in the use of nuclear energy for civil purposes and expressing the readiness of both parties to collaborate in Poland’s nascent nuclear energy program (NN, Aug. 2019, p. 62).As published in Energy Policy of Poland until 2040, Poland plans to build six nuclear reactors, each with a capacity of 1,000 to 1,500 MWe, for a total capacity of 6,000 to 9,000 MWe. The first reactor is to be in operation by 2033 and the remaining five by 2043. The first nuclear power plant in Poland is to be built in Pomerania.Tags:dan brouillettepolandu.s. doeShare:LinkedInTwitterFacebook
Polish energy policy for next two decades adoptedPoland’s Council of Ministers has approved a long-term energy policy that emphasizes clean forms of energy, including nuclear.On February 2, the country’s Ministry of Climate and Environment announced the official adoption of Energy Policy of Poland until 2040 (PEP2040), originally published in draft form in November 2018 and revised the following year. The full text of PEP2040 has not been published at this writing, but an 18-page abstract can be accessed online.In its announcement, the ministry described PEP2040 as “a clear vision of Poland’s energy transformation strategy” and “a compass for entrepreneurs, local governments, and citizens in the transformation of the Polish economy toward low emission.” By 2040, the document states, more than half of Poland’s installed capacity will be zero-emission sources, adding that both offshore wind energy and nuclear energy “will play a special role” in reaching that goal.Go to Article
The year in review 2020: Waste ManagementHere is a look back at the top stories of 2020 from our Waste Management section in Newswire and Nuclear News magazine. Remember to check back to Newswire soon for more top stories from 2020.Waste Management sectionFirst-ever cleanup of uranium enrichment plant celebrated at Oak Ridge: The completion of the decades-long effort to clean up the former Oak Ridge Gaseous Diffusion Plant was celebrated on October 13, with Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette joining U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander, U.S. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, and other state and community leaders at the East Tennessee Technology Park, where the uranium enrichment complex once stood. Read more.Go to Article
John Gilligan: NEUP in support of university nuclear R&DJohn Gilligan has been the director of the Nuclear Energy University Program (NEUP) since its creation in 2009 by the Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy (DOE-NE). NEUP consolidates DOE-NE’s university support under one program and engages colleges and universities in the United States to conduct research and development in nuclear technology. The two main R&D areas for NEUP funding are fuel cycle projects, which include evolving sustainable technologies that improve energy generation to enhance safety, limit proliferation risk, and reduce waste generation and resource consumption; and reactor projects, which strive to preserve the existing commercial light-water reactors as well as improve emerging advanced designs, such as small modular reactors, liquid-metal-cooled fast reactors, and gas- or liquid-salt-cooled high-temperature reactors.Go to Article
Ex-Im Bank, Poland sign MOU on U.S. energy investmentPolish Minister of Climate and Environment Michał Kurtyka (left) and Ex-Im Chairman Kimberly Reed sign an MOU on U.S. energy investment in Poland on December 11. Photo: EXIMIn another sign of U.S. interest in helping Poland develop a civil nuclear power program, the Export-Import Bank of the United States announced last week that it has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Polish government to promote U.S. energy investment in the Central European nation. (For an earlier agreement, see here.)The MOU was signed in Warsaw on December 11 by Ex-Im president and chairman, Kimberly A. Reed, and Poland’s minister of climate and environment, Michał Kurtyka, during Reed’s three-day visit to Poland.The Ex-Im: As the official export credit agency of the United States, Ex-Im provides loans, loan guarantees, and insurance to foreign customers purchasing U.S. exports.The MOU particulars: The MOU calls for Ex-Im and Poland to “explore and identify potential opportunities for Ex-Im financing and to work together to promote business development opportunities related to strategic energy projects and programs,” according to Ex-Im’s announcement. The agreement includes, but is not limited to, support for projects in nuclear energy, in particular in support of strategic projects under Poland’s nuclear power program, low- and zero-emission technologies, clean energy innovation, and critical energy infrastructure, including cybersecurity solutions.Go to Article
NASA and DOE sign MOU on interplanetary nuclear propulsionA “visionary view” of a nuclear thermal propulsion–enabled spacecraft mission. Image: NASASecretary of Energy Dan Brouillette and NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine on October 20 signed a memorandum of understanding to continue decades of partnership between the Department of Energy and NASA and to support the goals of NASA’s Artemis program. These include landing the first woman and the next man on the moon by 2024 and establishing sustainable lunar exploration—using nuclear propulsion systems—by the end of the decade to prepare for the first human mission to Mars.Go to Article
U.S., Bulgaria ink civil nuclear MOUBulgaria’s Kozloduy nuclear plant. Photo: Wikimedia Commons/Gogo89873The United States in the past few weeks has signed civil nuclear agreements with Romania and Poland, and now a third European nation can be added to the list: Bulgaria.Go to Article
It’s time for the United States to demonstrate advanced reactorsAfter talking about it for decades, the United States is finally ready to take the next step in demonstrating advanced reactor technologies.We have the bipartisan support from Congress. We have the best innovators in the world. Now it’s time to see what U.S. nuclear companies can really do with the support and resources of the federal government.The U.S. Department of Energy is all in on new nuclear technologies and we just made our boldest move yet—selecting and supporting two U.S. reactor designs that will be fully operational within the next 7 years.After evaluating the competitive U.S. reactor design applications that were submitted to our new Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program funding opportunity announcement, TerraPower LLC and X-energy were awarded $160 million in initial funding to test, license, and build their advanced reactors under this aggressive timeframe. Pending future appropriations by Congress, the DOE will invest $3.2 billion over 7 years in these projects that will be matched by the industry teams.Go to Article
DOE Gives VTR Project the Green Light for Critical Decision 1The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) on September 23 announced its approval of Critical Decision 1 for the Versatile Test Reactor (VTR) project, a one-of-a-kind scientific user facility that would support research and development of innovative nuclear energy and other technologies.Go to Article
U.S. takes next step in support of Poland’s nuclear visionPompeoMorawieckiWhile the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement grabbed more attention, it was not the only U.S.-Poland pact inked in Warsaw last week. The two countries also initialed a draft bilateral agreement to cooperate in the development of Poland’s civil nuclear power program, according to the State Department. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met with Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki on August 15 to discuss the partnership, in addition to other matters including the improvement of regional energy and infrastructure through the Three Seas Initiative, the department said.Go to Article
The ongoing effort to convert the world’s research reactorsThe Ghana Research Reactor-1, located in Accra, Ghana, was converted from HEU fuel to LEU in 2017. Photo: Argonne National LaboratoryIn late 2018, Nigeria’s sole operating nuclear research reactor, NIRR-1, switched to a safer uranium fuel. Coming just 18 months on the heels of a celebrated conversion in Ghana, the NIRR-1 reboot passed without much fanfare. However, the switch marked an important global milestone: NIRR-1 was the last of Africa’s 11 operating research reactors to run on high-enriched uranium fuel.The 40-year effort to make research reactors safer and more secure by replacing HEU fuel with low-enriched uranium is marked by a succession of quiet but immeasurably significant milestones like these. Before Africa, a team of engineers from many organizations, including the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory, concluded its conversion work in South America and Australia. Worldwide, 71 reactors in nearly 40 countries have undergone conversions to LEU, defined as less than 20 percent uranium-235. Another 31 research reactors have been permanently shut down.Go to Article