Today the NRC and Oklo held a public meeting regarding the history of the IFR and EBR II and how lessons can be learned from this history on possibly licensing Oklo’s compact fast reactor.  Below is a link to the presentation’s slides.  Also, a link to a recording of the meeting is below.  My apologies for the background noise in the audio recording.  Although I muted my microphone for skype, my recording program was still recording what was going on in my kitchen.

Slide: https://www.dropbox.com/s/6wbko7kysj3w527/Oklo%20-%20161214%20Public%20Meeting%20Slides%20%5BNon-Prop%5D.pdf?dl=0

April 2016 was a noteworthy month with many events that could signal a turning point for nuclear energy in the United States.  Below is a timeline containing summaries and links to these significant events.

Friday, April 1st: Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker repealed the moratorium on nuclear power.  Following Wisconsin’s example, other states may repeal similar nuclear moratoria.

Tuesday, April 12th: The Nuclear Innovation Alliance (NIA) released a report offering recommendations for revamping the nuclear licensing process.  Many see the licensing process as the largest impediment to deploying advanced meltdown-proof reactors.  The report recommends

Early interaction between licensees and the NRC through a Licensing Project Plan (LPP).

A staged licensing process that offers licensees feedback and milestones similar to an FDA process.

And changes to NRC funding and fee collection.

Wednesday, April 13th: Sen. Booker, Sen. Crapo, Sen. Inhofe, and Sen. Whitehouse introduced the Nuclear Energy Innovation and Modernization Act, which incorporates many of the recommendations contained in NIA’s report.

Wednesday, April 20th: The Energy Policy Modernization Act passed the Senate 85-12.  Within the act was a widely supported amendment similar to HR4084 that promotes private-public partnerships between advanced nuclear reactor design companies and the national labs.  With the widespread bicameral and bipartisan support, one should expect a private-public partnership program.

While today is Back To The Future Day, our energy policies are still stuck in the past. 

Thankfully, Josh Freed from our Clean Energy Program writes, smart, young pioneers like Leslie Dewan and Mark Massie are leading the renaissance in nuclear energy. 

Leslie and Mark and many others are transforming and revitalizing the way we think about nuclear energy. But their work will take support and financing from the government to scale and test their designs, as well as significant revamp of the regulatory process to get the projects off the ground. But the pay off is a huge reason that Leslie and Mark got into nuclear engineering in the first place: the chance to make a big dent in the battle against climate change.