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A new nuclear dream: Westinghouse wants its employees to produce new reactor designs

nuclear-dream-1Westinghouse, again, looks for the next generation of nuclear reactors, Power Source, December 1, 2015 By Anya Litvak / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Westinghouse Electric Co.’s CEO Danny Roderick in January challenged his employees to come up with the next big thing in nuclear energy — the next generation reactor.

It had been a very long time since such words were uttered at the Cranberry-based nuclear company……

No new nuclear reactor has been built in the U.S. on time and on budget, and the overruns haven’t been trivial.  That track record, along with cheap and plentiful natural gas and a lack of environmental policy that incentivizes low carbon generation, has held back the nuclear renaissance predicted a decade ago.

Even operating nuclear plants with capital costs far behind them are having trouble competing. A handful are headed for premature retirement. 

For that reason, economics and scale are top priorities…….

DOE seeks new ideas for reactors  Last month, Westinghouse submitted its proposal to the Department of Energy, which had solicited ideas about advanced nuclear reactors that could be built by 2035. The agency plans to award $80 million to two teams over the next five years, but that depends on Congress’ approval going forward. In the meantime, the department is getting ready to announce the winners of a much smaller opportunity.

Westinghouse hasn’t said yet who else it has enlisted to be part of its team, only that there are more than a dozen entities and that they include universities, national labs and vendors.

A spokesman for the agency said the response has been strong with more than a dozen teams vying for funding. The winners — there will be two, and each will be awarded $6 million — are expected to be announced before the end of the year.

By nuclear standards, that’s a drop in the bucket.

“At one time, there was a fair amount of investment going on in Generation IV,” said Larry Foulke, adjunct professor at the University of Pittsburgh’s Swanson School of Engineering……“A number of nations were working together on these reactors,” he said. “But as with most research activities where you’re studying reactors on paper and not making them,” investment dwindles.

“Generation IV reactors are suffering from a lack of funding worldwide,” he said…..http://powersource.post-gazette.com/powersource/companies/2015/12/01/Westinghouse-again-looks-for-the-next-generation-of-nuclear-reactors/stories/201512010005

December 2, 2015 - Posted by | business and costs, USA

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