Maintaining this edge gives our country significant economic advantage and national security leverage. We can't afford to lose that edge in the global nuclear market by stymying innovation here at home.
If we continue to compete, however, we can seize an enormous economic opportunity worth more than $100 billion as global nuclear energy demand accelerates. We must also ask ourselves: if the U.S. doesn’t supply nuclear technology to the nations seeking it, who will?
Why Maintaining Our Leadership Matters
Staying at the forefront of the nuclear energy field also allows us to strengthen safety and nonproliferation standards around the globe—as we have done since founding the first nuclear energy marketplace.
Now Russia, China and South Korea have surpassed us in that marketplace. Our technology and reactor designs are still superior, but foreign state-owned corporations undercut the United States in price and time-to-market. The United States can compete for these billion-dollar contracts, and the development of advanced reactors is poised to employ hundreds of thousands of American engineers, manufacturers, and skilled craft workers.
Innovative Technologies to Meet Global Demand
Companies across the U.S. have advanced nuclear technology projects underway. These new reactors hold great promise for less expensive, more efficient and even safer ways of generating carbon-free nuclear energy, and countries are interested in these new reactors to combat climate change and increase energy security. These innovations are in various stages of development and review by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Advanced Reactors
A number of next-generation reactor designs are under development and expected to deploy by the early- to mid-2030s, some even sooner. These revolutionary designs come in large, medium and small sizes and vary from reactors capable of recovering and reusing elements in used fuel, to molten salt reactors and high-temperature gas reactors that can supply process heat and produce the large volumes of hydrogen needed to decarbonize energy-intensive segments of our transportation, manufacturing and industrial sectors. The U.S. Department of Energy, Congress and the NRC are engaged in initiatives to enable the private sector to support and bring new reactor types to market.
How Policy Can Help
Federal agencies and the nuclear energy industry can work together to clear the way for America’s nuclear technology leadership. Policymakers can support measures that:
- Streamline regulations for nuclear technology licensing
- Create more efficient export rules
- Provide financing via the U.S. Export-Import Bank and other institutions
- Support our world-class national laboratories
- Stabilize our electricity markets
- Promote research, development and demonstrations through public-private partnerships for new reactors