There is a new space race developing, with higher stakes and more ambitious goals than just going back to Earth orbit or the Moon.  The U.S. has developed a sizable technological lead in rockets and satellite technology, which has in turn grown our national and global space ambitions.  Now that it is feasible to get…

Many advanced reactor developers are designing their technologies to pair with renewables.  A recent report from the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC), the government entity responsible for overseeing America’s bulk power system, underscores the benefits that can be achieved through an advanced nuclear/renewable energy partnership to compensate for the intermittent nature of solar and…

On May 28, 2021, President Biden submitted a proposed federal budget for Fiscal Year 2022  (FY22) that included a significant funding increase for clean energy initiatives. The budget proposal, which complements the President’s American Jobs Plan, among other things affirms support for nuclear energy as an option to combat climate change by allocating $1.85…

Last week, the Department of Energy (DOE) announced a new funding program issued by the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E). An impressive $40 million in funds are being set aside to support the new Optimizing Nuclear Waste and Advanced Reactor Disposal Systems (ONWARDS) program. This endeavor will focus on preventing or reducing nuclear waste and…

Today the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) published an advance notice of proposed rulemaking and request for comment on categorical exclusions under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). NEPA requires that federal agencies conduct environmental reviews for any “major Federal action” that significantly affects “the quality of the human environment.”
As a background to NEPA, for…

On April 22, 2021, the U.S. Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory (INL) announced it is soliciting Expressions of Interest (EOI) from industry stakeholders and technical experts on innovative uses of nuclear energy. The EOI should be for a multi-phase demonstration program in partnership with the National Reactor Innovation Center (NRIC) and the…

The White House demonstrates its continued support for fossil fuel communities during the  current clean energy transition by standing up the Interagency Working Group on Coal and Power Plant Communicatees and Economic Revitalization (“Working Group”). The Working Group aims to deliver federal resources to revive the local economics of coal, oil and gas areas, particularly…

On April 22 and 23, President Biden hosted forty world leaders virtually at the Leaders Summit on Climate (“Climate Summit”) to employ a “whole of government” approach in the fight against climate change. The world leaders announced a variety of commitments to include creating global partnerships, setting financial benchmarks, and transforming current energy supply…

Today, we issued a Client Alert summarizing the White House Climate Change Summit from last week.  We are replicating it below for the benefit of our blog readers.
President Biden hosted the Leaders Summit on Climate (Climate Summit) on 22-23 April. The Climate Summit is a next step in the President’s plan to employ a…

On March 31st, President Biden unveiled a massive $2 trillion infrastructure and clean energy plan called the American Jobs Plan that aims, in part, to tackle what the White House calls two of the greatest challenges of our time: the climate crisis and competition with China.  Among the proposed investments, the American Jobs Plan calls…

On March 25, the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources held a hearing entitled “The Latest Developments in the Nuclear Energy Sector with a Focus on Ways to Maintain and Expand the Use of Nuclear Energy in the United States and Abroad.” A recording of the hearing is available here.  This full…

On Friday, February 26, the Biden Administration’s newly-resurrected Interagency Working Group on Social Cost of Greenhouse Gases (IWG) announced new values for three specific metrics that seek to monetize the environmental impacts of greenhouse gases:  the Social Cost of Carbon, Social Cost of Nitrous Oxide, and Social Cost of Methane.  Collectively these are known as…

On February 16, the Nuclear Innovation Alliance (NIA) and the Partnership for Global Security (PGS) issued a report to help guide the Biden Administration in its support of nuclear amidst the President’s ambitious climate agenda. The report, U.S. Advanced Nuclear Energy Strategy for Domestic Prosperity, Climate Protection, National Security, and Global Leadership, provides detailed…