It’s not necessarily a new topic. The promise of what’s dubbed as “advanced nuclear” has been bandied about for well over a decade. What’s different is the urgent tone of the current conversation, which has noticeably intensified in just the last several months.
Nuclear power, the oft-controversial renewable energy source, has once again bubbled to the surface of public discourse, but this time with serious fervor and on multiple fronts. State agencies are collectively engaging in nuclear discussions with experts from across the country, local energy providers are making serious plans for nuclear expansion, LSU researchers are pursuing the development of a local nuclear workforce, and most interestingly perhaps, Dow and other industrial owners are considering its implementation at the plant level.
The reasons behind the movement are both economic and environmental. Louisiana’s fledgling data center market promises to attract a surge of energy-intensive facilities just as the state’s industrial sector plans unprecedented levels of investment.
Simultaneously, industrial owners are searching for ways to achieve stringent “net-zero” emissions targets mandated by their corporate headquarters.
“Solar and wind power just won’t get them there,” says John Flake, chemical engineering professor at LSU, who has studied the potential of nuclear energy in the chemical industry. “It’s almost impossible for solar or wind to supply the bulk of the renewable power that plants will need to meet emissions goals. I think they’ll provide something like 15 percent, but the other 85 percent would need to come from either natural gas combined with carbon sequestration … or nuclear.”
However, instead of the conventional 1,000-plus MW nuclear powerplants of the past—often encumbered by lengthy regulatory and construction delays—consider the Vogtle Electric Generating Plant in Georgia—recent discussions have focused on Small Modular Reactors, or SMRs, and microreactors, both of which fall under the advanced nuclear umbrella.
“They’re closer to what you might see on a Navy submarine,” Flake says. “They’re trying to change the rules so that advanced nuclear doesn’t have to go through the same regulatory hurdles as a larger power plant. These newer reactors are small and much safer—the fuel is still uranium, but it is encapsulated in small triple-coated particles that make it impossible for them to melt, even with no cooling water. The entire reactor would be the size of a tennis court.”
Of particular interest to industrial owners are the multiple problems that nuclear energy can address.
“The big advantage is the heat,” he adds. “Solar and wind just give you electricity, but with nuclear you can get both electricity and heat, just like from natural gas. That’s a huge differentiator.”
SMRs could also serve as “drop in” replacements for the 65 or so electrical cogeneration units currently operating within Louisiana’s industrial plants, and provide anywhere from 30 to 300 MW, or roughly 3% to 30% of the power output of a large nuclear reactor such as River Bend in St. Francisville.
Companies including TerraPower (founded by Bill Gates), X-energy and NuScale Power are each getting closer to turning the technology into a commercial reality, possibly in as few as five years. “Right now, these reactors are expensive,” Flake says, “but I see value in nuclear as a low-carbon product and as a hedge against high natural gas prices in the future.”
As such, LSU has been actively working with Idaho National Laboratory to understand what it would take to incorporate a reactor into the operations of an industrial plant.
“This is a big deal,” he adds. “While it’s true that carbon sequestration can get you to net-
zero, for the long-term it’s better to avoid making the carbon dioxide altogether.”
Mark Zappi, executive director of the Energy Institute of Louisiana at ULL and a member of Louisiana’s Clean Hydrogen Task Force, says a handful of regulatory and economic hurdles will need to be cleared before SMRs can become a commercial reality, “but I’m anxious to see some of these get out there.
“The SMRs will be the first to market, but I’m also intrigued by the potential of microreactors (nuclear units that produce less than 20 MWs),” Zappi says. “They’re smaller, but the technology is less mature than the SMRs. Still, there are several companies saying that they’re getting close.”
A significant amount of due diligence will need to occur first, but the earlier the dialogue can begin the better, Zappi says. Until then, the commercialization of nuclear energy will remain largely conceptual. “I’ve learned that there is going to be some form of opposition to any new technology,” he says. “There’s no magic bullet out there. They all have pros and cons. Nuclear will have to go down that path as well.”
Entering the public discourse
The potential of advanced nuclear energy has also captured the attention of the Louisiana Legislature. On Feb. 11, a joint hearing of the House and Senate Natural Resources Committee convened to discuss the possibility of expanding nuclear energy, with a focus on recycling nuclear waste and utilizing new technologies.
Greg Upton, executive director of the LSU Center for Energy Studies, presented at the hearing. “If you really want to get to net zero by the end of the next decade, the obvious option is nuclear energy,” Upton says. “Will that be the most cost-effective? I don’t know. But you’ve got these data centers coming in and petrochemical companies are wanting to buy zero-carbon power and that makes nuclear very interesting to them.”
Upton says a handful of industrial owners have expressed an interest in nuclear, and they’re just waiting for the technology to mature. “A few of them have told me that if someone could install an SMR that would allow them to reduce their emissions and still give them the power, heat and pressures that they need … they would love to do it. There just aren’t any options out there right now.”
Nevertheless, Upton mixes his message with a dash of skepticism. “They’ve been talking about this for years since I first began working here,” he adds. “Could we be at the edge of it really taking off? We could be. The difference is that companies are now willing to spend a little more money to have lower carbon-intensive products.”
The Louisiana Public Service Commission advanced the conversation a few steps further in 2024 by authorizing Eric Skrmetta, District 1 commissioner in Metairie, to develop a collaborative task force—the Louisiana Advanced Nuclear Competitive Edge, or LANCE—to prepare for the eventuality of advanced nuclear.
In its role, LANCE seeks to develop economic opportunities through advanced nuclear energy, attract investment for nuclear projects, develop and test advanced nuclear fuels and train the workforce needed for nuclear technology.
For help in organizing the group, Skrmetta reached out to Paul Kjellander, a former president of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioner with connections to the Idaho National Laboratory.
“He put together a team from BWXT Nuclear Operations Group, which produces a range of nuclear components and services, and other folks from the Nuclear Energy Institute in Washington D.C.,” Skrmetta says.
Also on the task force are representatives of Gov. Jeff Landry’s office, the PSC, Idaho National Laboratory, a team of nuclear scientists and others. Additionally, they’ve enlisted the help of LSU in establishing a new curriculum in nuclear engineering.
The group held its first technical conference last year in Baton Rouge and later developed a road map that could pave the way for advanced nuclear in the state. One big area of focus: Promoting the state as an internationally recognized manufacturer in the nuclear space.
“We feel Louisiana can achieve the goal of adding nuclear resources to its power mix but also get involved in the manufacture of components on the world stage,” Skrmetta says.
The demand will certainly be there. The Nuclear Energy Institute estimates that between 300 to 600 new nuclear reactors will be needed, worldwide, over the next 15 to 20 years. “We could build steel mills that operate off of our current nuclear facilities, then produce the steel at net zero to meet the requirement for components exported to Europe,” the commissioner adds.
They’re also looking into industrial uses of nuclear, such as the incorporation of ship-based reactors for industrial consumers and microreactors in the Permian Basin to power drilling operations. Additionally, industrial owners such as Dow Chemical are interested in incorporating microreactors and SMRs for the nuclear steam they create, which can be used in their chemical processes.
“There’s a sincere interest in utilizing these devices and getting them into play,” Skrmetta says. “The key to doing that in a meaningful way is to have the federal government look at streamlining the permitting process. We can get a new gas plant up in about three years, but it currently takes about eight years for a nuclear facility. Under the right regulatory framework, we might be able to get it down to five to six years.
“If Louisiana can get to an energy profile of 60 percent natural gas and 40 percent nuclear, we will be net-zero as a state, and all of our industrial owners will be able to say they’re producing with net-zero power.”
Meta Accelerates the Discussion
Perhaps nothing advanced the nuclear conversation more than December’s announcement by Meta that it would build a $10 billion AI data center in Richland Parish.
To power the facility—which will span more than a mile long—as well as meet future energy needs, Entergy has proposed constructing three natural gas-fired power plants at a cost of $3 billion that could one day be converted to clean energy production.
Entergy currently generates about 5,000 megawatts of carbon-free power within its existing nuclear fleet, consisting of five reactors at four locations in Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi. “With projected load growth, utilities will need to plan additional generation to meet customer demands in a way that balances reliability, affordability and sustainability,” says Jody Montelaro, vice president of public affairs at Entergy Louisiana. “With regard to data center load growth, many of those customers are focused on sustainability as well, presenting an opportunity to partner with those data center customers to cover the costs of new sustainable generation.”
Jim Smiley, senior manager of nuclear project management at Entergy in Madison, Mississippi, says nuclear energy is an important element of Entergy’s long-term strategy.
“For us, it’s not a matter of ‘if,’ but it’s really a matter of ‘when’ and ‘how,’” Smiley says. “We are actively evaluating potential paths to new nuclear with a focus on managing the risks inherent with projects of this magnitude.
“… Nuclear satisfies environmental sustainability goals as a clean, carbon-free generating source and reliability goals as a stable, 24/7, baseload source,” he adds. “This sets nuclear apart from other carbon-free energy sources and other baseload alternatives.”
Since project costs and schedule durations are the most significant challenges to new nuclear, they say innovations that shorten construction schedules, such as SMRs and micro reactors, will help make new nuclear more economical.
“There are a number of small modular reactors in development today with the promise of utilizing modular construction methods to lower construction costs and schedule durations,” Smiley says. “It remains to be seen which of these new designs can deliver on that promise.
“Another critical aspect of efficient deployment of new nuclear involves the maturity of the industrial base and supply chain to deliver the necessary materials and components and execute the construction.”
Entergy is hopeful that the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission will develop a more streamlined and simplified regulatory framework specific to the deployment of new, advanced reactors, as the outcome of the effort has the potential to improve the overall economic viability of new nuclear projects.
Montelaro says partnerships with customers will also be an essential element to making new nuclear a reality.
“Ultimate success means adequately managing and mitigating the financial risks inherent with a project the size and scale of a new nuclear project,” he adds, “so we are exploring an ‘all of the above’ approach that could involve partnerships with our customers or joining a consortium of other utilities, reactor designers, and/or engineering and construction companies, as well as support from our state and the federal regulators to get us there.”
Power demands facing the industry will require leveraging all generation options, and nuclear energy will be part of the solution.
“That said, building a new nuclear plant is neither an inexpensive nor quick proposition,” Smiley says. “Our industry has experienced cost overruns and schedule delays with nuclear construction projects. From a pure capital investment standpoint, nuclear costs more and takes longer to implement than other new power sources.
“However, if you take into account all of the positive nuclear attributes such as the long life, resilience, dispatchability, clean attributes etc., along with the recognition that costs will come down as we build more, the total business case begins to make more sense.”
Workforce Cautionary Tale
Before any nuclear project can take its first tentative steps toward commercialization, Louisiana will need a nuclear workforce to support it all. The manpower issues encountered during a delay-plagued expansion project at the Vogtle Electric Generating Plant in Georgia should serve as a cautionary tale, says Manas Gartia, LSU mechanical and industrial engineering professor.
The project began in 2009 but wasn’t completed until 2022 at double the original estimated cost. “They needed 9,000 workers but they couldn’t find them,” Gartia says. “They had to go to 48 different states to find these people, because there hasn’t been any significant construction of reactors in the U.S. since the 1980s. We’d lost that technical expertise.”
To stay ahead of expected future demand, in January Gartia spearheaded a multi-department effort at LSU in applying for a five-year, $22 million U.S. Department of Energy grant to develop a local nuclear workforce. The comprehensive proposal involved multiple governmental entities and included letters of support from Louisiana Economic Development and other trade associations.
The overriding goal of the grant is to prepare the local workforce to build, maintain and operate all forms of nuclear energy in Louisiana and across the U.S. Gartia expects a decision from DOE this summer. “To operate the reactor you’ll need nuclear engineers, but also mechanical and electrical engineers,” he says. “We’ll also need welders, pipefitters, etc., so there will be a diverse workforce required.”
The grant money would be used to establish training programs in collaboration with local industry groups, Baton Rouge Community College and Entergy, who would provide hands-on training in a nuclear setting. Gartia also plans to purchase a nuclear simulator. “We want to increase the number of people available to take jobs in those industries when it’s available,” he says.
Should they be awarded the grant, “we will establish the framework for the training with the help of our other educational partners,” he adds. “We need to fill all those gaps to make it a success.”
How do small modular reactors work?
Like any fission reactor, a small modular reactor uses energy from a controlled nuclear chain reaction to create steam that powers a turbine to produce electricity. Advanced SMR designs span a range of sizes and technology options. Some use light water as a coolant while others rely on coolants such as a gas, liquid metal or molten salt. Some SMRs would use fuel akin to what runs today’s nuclear reactors, while others would use new types of fuels.
Different designs can have different end uses such as power generation, process heat supply or desalination. Small modular reactors also can vary in size from a dozen megawatts to hundreds of megawatts per module. Modules can be added or taken offline to match electricity demand, giving the plants immense flexibility. The modules can also be individually refueled so that an SMR plant is never fully offline.
SOURCE: Idaho National Laboratory
