Martucci reported in October 2024 that a new report from NARUC and NASEO highlights Generation III+ and IV reactors’ potential to support industrial processes, mining, district heating and data center operations.
Generation III+ and IV reactors can support industrial processes, mining, district
heating and data center operations, according to a new report from the National
Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners and the National Association of
State Energy Officials. Retrieved from Idaho National Laboratory.
Dive Brief:
Dive Insight:
The NARUC/NASEO report defines advanced reactors as both Generation III+ designs that pair familiar light-water cooling with passive safety systems and Generation IV designs that use non-water liquids or gasses for cooling and generally require high-assay low-enriched uranium fuel, or HALEU. The U.S. has no operational Gen IV reactors, though TerraPower began non-nuclear construction in June at the Wyoming site of its planned 345-MW commercial demonstration reactor. The 1,117-MW Westinghouse AP-1000 reactors operating at Plant Vogtle units 3 and 4 in Georgia qualify as Gen III+ reactors.
Gen III+ and Gen IV reactors can operate at higher temperatures than previous reactor generations, expanding their usefulness for processes that require heat as well as electricity, NARUC and NASEO said. Several states have in recent years allocated funding to attract advanced nuclear reactor technologies to support cogeneration arrangements or behind-the-meter electricity production.
For example, Tennessee — home of Oak Ridge National Laboratory, where Kairos Power is building advanced test reactors that use a novel uranium fuel form — established a $50 million nuclear fund last year to support reactor research, development and deployment.
Also last year, Virginia authorized a $10 million nuclear fund to support a “nuclear innovation hub” in the state. This year, the state authorized Dominion Energy to seek a rate adjustment for a possible small modular reactor deployment at the North Anna nuclear power plant site. A state-commissioned feasibility study last year identified seven potential SMR sites in southwest Virginia, where the Energy DELTA Lab hopes to power a 1-GW data center complex and hydrogen production facility with low-carbon electricity.
On the other side of Virginia, the Surry Green Energy Center has a similar vision for a 1-GW data center complex and hydrogen production powered — eventually — by four to six SMRs.
Advanced nuclear reactors can support a range of energy-intensive activities beyond data center operations and hydrogen production, according to the NARUC/NASEO report. These include distributed electric power applications for resource extraction and national defense, electricity and waste heat applications for district heating, desalination and direct air capture, and high-temperature process heat applications for the production of chemicals, steel, glass and cement, the report said.
The report noted several U.S. and international examples of active or under-development cogeneration or behind-the-meter projects using advanced nuclear reactors:
Recommended Reading
"The bipartisan ADVANCE Act is boosting US nuclear. What does the industry want next?" By Brian Martucci • Sept. 24, 2024 (here)
"Google, Kairos Power ink 500-MW advanced nuclear reactor deal" (here)
"Amazon announces small modular reactor deals with Dominion, X-energy, Energy Northwest" (here)