Ahmed Abdulla: U.S. Should Begin Laying the Foundation for New and Advanced Nuclear Reactors, Says New Report
Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Professor, Ahmed Abdula, Article “U.S. Should Begin Laying the Foundation for New and Advanced Nuclear Reactors, Says New Report” was published in the National Academies, Sciences, Engineering, Medicine. April 27th, 2023
Highlights
- Nuclear power is witnessing renewed interest as a method of generating low-carbon electricity to enable the deep decarbonization of the global energy system.
- Developers of new and advanced nuclear reactors promise novel features that enhance economic competitiveness, safety, and security, while addressing nuclear power’s past challenges.
- A new report outlines these potentially useful features and what is required for new nuclear power technologies to flourish in the future energy system. Among these are improved economic competitiveness and affordability, as well as the adoption of best practices for community engagement.
Abstract
New and advanced nuclear reactors could play an important role in helping the U.S. and the rest of the world meet their long-term climate goals, but a range of technical, regulatory, economic, and societal challenges must first be overcome,” according to a new report published by the U.S. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. “Advanced nuclear technologies likely will not be able to markedly contribute to electricity generation until the 2030s at the earliest,” says the report, “but there are opportunities for them to compete with other energy technologies in the long term. Innovative ideas for reactors, if fulfilled, may provide on-demand power generation to complement variable sources of energy, such as solar and wind energy, and help decarbonize challenging industrial sectors by providing high-temperature heat for chemical processes, such as hydrogen production.”
Ahmed Abdulla, Assistant Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Carleton University, was a member of the committee that authored the report. Abdulla highlighted the fact that cost control, societal acceptance, and the morphing global electricity system pose the largest challenges to nuclear power’s prospects for expansion. “Our energy system is undergoing massive shifts that are driven by several factors, including the need to decarbonize over the next several decades. Programs to develop new nuclear reactors, which span decades and incur substantial costs, must be cognizant of and responsive to those shifts,” Abdulla said. He emphasized societal acceptance, adding that, “for broad, sustainable deployment, addressing the societal acceptance challenge must inform every phase of nuclear reactor development and deployment: from design all the way to decommissioning and the stewardship of potential nuclear waste stockpiles