National Academies News:
A new National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine report evaluates the prospects for next-generation nuclear reactors. The report assesses economic, regulatory, social, and technological barriers for advanced reactors, making recommendations for federal and state agencies as well as private industry.
Nuclear power provides a significant portion of the world’s low-carbon electricity, and the wide array of concepts for new and advanced designs and technologies ― though not yet at commercial readiness ― offer the potential for future reactors that are smaller, safer, lower-cost, and better integrated with the modern grid.
The report considers the viability of advanced technologies for applications outside the electricity sector, the role that the U.S. government should play domestically and internationally, how nuclear technologies fit in to national goals for decarbonization, and security and nonproliferation concerns, among other important factors.
Members of the committee that wrote the report will present their conclusions and recommendations during a webinar starting at 2 p.m. EDT, Thursday, April 27.
Speakers include:
- Richard A. Meserve (committee chair), Senior Of Counsel, Covington & Burling LLP, and former chair, Nuclear Regulatory Commission
- Ahmed Abdulla, assistant professor, department of mechanical and aerospace engineering, Carleton University
- Jacquelin Cochran, director, Grid Planning and Analysis Center, National Renewable Energy Laboratory
- Michael Ford, associate laboratory director for engineering, Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory
