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Released April 14, 2025 | SUGAR LAND
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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Last week showed some movement in the U.S. nuclear sector, mostly affirming Americans' generally positive response to the emissions-free energy source.
U.S. View of Nuclear Power
In a U.S. Gallup poll that has been administered since 1994, the polling agency found that 61% of respondents favored nuclear energy. This includes 29% who said they "strongly" support nuclear power as a U.S. power source and 32% who said they "somewhat" favor it. This represents a six-point gain since the question was last administered in 2023 and is one point away from the all-time high for support, which occurred in 2010.
Gallup makes a few observations about the poll: From 2004 through 2015, public support of nuclear power outpaced opposition. This changed in 2016, the only year that Gallup has recorded a majority of U.S. residents opposed to nuclear energy's use. While Gallup doesn't elaborate on reasons behind this one-year shift in opinion, it notes that it was a time of relatively low natural gas prices and that the public generally didn't see the need for energy relief through nuclear power.
Gallup provides a few other observations on the political breakdown of the results: 74% of Republicans, 64% of independents and 46% of Democrats back the use of nuclear power. Republicans and independents showed a sharp uptick in their support from the 2023 poll, with Republicans' support rising 12 percentage points and independents' rising eight points. Gallup notes that the last time a majority of Democrats supported nuclear power was 2012 and that their support has never surpassed 54%.
North Dakota Legislation
Several states are jumping to allocate funds for the study of nuclear power, with the latest being North Dakota. However, previous legislation in the state regarding nuclear waste disposal could prove a roadblock toward near-term development.
Last week, the state's House of Representatives passed Senate Bill 2159 and House Bill 1025, both of which call for the further study of the use of nuclear energy. The Senate bill calls for the state's Energy and Environmental Research Center (EERC) to study nuclear energy while the House Bill calls for a legislative study of the use of nuclear power in the state.
However, development of nuclear power in North Dakota has one existing hurdle that came about in a 2019 piece of legislation. After the U.S. Department of Energy proposed drilling an exploratory borehole to test the ability of the area's rock for nuclear waste storage, legislation was soon passed that prohibits "the placement, storage, exploration, testing, or disposal of high-level radioactive waste" in North Dakota.
With no federal nuclear waste repository in the U.S., plants are left to deal with their own waste, which often is stored in secure above-ground facilities on site. The Senate's EERC research bill could potentially lead to above-ground storage. North Dakota's House representative for the district where the U.S. wanted to investigate waste storage potential, Jon Nelson (R), is a strong supporter of nuclear power in the state. "We need to be a part of the conversation," he said of the nation's strengthening nuclear dialog. Nelson noted that protections were in place to keep North Dakota from becoming a "dumping ground" and that any nuclear research performed by EERC has to be approved by the state's Industrial Commission in consultation with North Dakota's High-Level Radioactive Waste Advisory Council.
Another License Renewal Application
Fresh off the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC) 20-year extension of the life of its Oconee nuclear power plant in South Carolina (see April 2, 2025, article - Duke Energy Gets Approval to Extend Operations at Oconee Nuclear Plant), Duke Energy Corporation (NYSE:DUK) (Charlotte, North Carolina) last week applied for another license renewal for a facility in the same state. This time, the plant is the 759-megawatt Robinson Nuclear Power Plant near Hartsville, which entered service in 1971. The facility received a previous life extension from the NRC in 2004, allowing it to operate until 2030. The latest license renewal application would allow the plant to operate until 2050.
Subscribers to Industrial Info's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) Plant Database can click here for the plant profile.
In a press release regarding the license renewal application, Laura Basta, the site vice president of the Robinson plant, said, "Though the first nuclear plant to enter commercial operation in the southeast, Robinson is a modernized plant fully prepared for operations into midcentury. We've invested approximately $1.7 billion into capital upgrades to our facility to enhance safety and efficiency."
Older News
Dow's Nuclear Goals
Relatively few organizations have active applications with the NRC for construction permits for nuclear reactors, and now Dow Incorporated (NYSE:DOW) (Midland, Michigan) has added a new twist to such an application: The company wants to operate its Seadrift chemicals plant, located on the Texas Gulf Coast about 80 miles from Corpus Christi, with small modular reactors (SMRs), which as the name implies have a much smaller footprint and generating capacity that traditional nuclear plants. Late last month, the company submitted an application to the NRC for the plant to be powered by four SMRs manufactured by X-energy (Rockville, Maryland). The application marks the first request to power a U.S. manufacturing site from nuclear power.
The Seadrift plant produces materials including plastics for food and pharmaceutical packaging, as well as chemicals used in antifreeze, soaps, paint and more. The plant currently uses natural gas, which provides both steam and electricity, but this equipment is aging, and Dow is now hoping to replace it in a few years' time with the SMRs. The facility would use four of X-energy's Xe-100 reactors, each of which can supply 80 MW of electricity or 200 megawatts' worth of steam. In discussing the application with MIT Technology Review, Harlan Bowers, senior vice president at X-energy, said that a plant such as Dow's requires steady delivery of both steam and power, and that the four reactors would operate with two of the units delivering steam, one unit delivering power to the plant, and the fourth unit selling power to the grid and available as backup power for the plant should one of the other reactors go offline.
The MIT release notes that the construction permit application could take up to two and a half years for the NRC to review and that the reactors would also require an operating license if construction is approved. Dow said it hopes to implement the new form of energy beginning "early next decade." Subscribers to Industrial Info's Chemical Processing Plant Database can click here for the plant profile.
AI-Enabled Nuclear Plant
While the initial announcement that California's only operating nuclear power plant, the Diablo Canyon plant in San Luis Obispo, is the first U.S. nuclear power plant to employ artificial intelligence (AI) was made some months ago, nuclear operators across the country are closely watching how the new technology streamlines the plant's operations. Executives at the plant's owner, PG&E Corporation (NYSE:PCG) (Oakland, California), are careful to note that the AI is acting more as a "co-pilot" and not a "decision-maker."
The Neutron Enterprise AI tool, developed by Atomic Canyon (San Luis Obispo), is now aiding operators and is forecast for full deployment at Diablo Canyon in the third quarter of this year, serving primarily as a document-retrieval system to access millions of pages from the NRC as well as plant-specific instructions and reports. Maureen Zawalick, PG&E's vice president of business and technical services, said, "We probably spend about 15,000 hours a year searching through our multiple databases and records and procedures," Zawalick said. "And that's going to shrink that time way down."
Trey Lauderdale, the chief executive officer of Atomic Canyon, told CalMatters that the company is in talks about deploying the technology with other nuclear facilities as well as groups interested in constructing SMRs.
The Diablo Canyon plant, which provides about 9% of California's electricity and 17% of its zero-carbon energy, is slated to begin the decommissioning process in 2029. Subscribers can learn more by viewing the plant profile.
Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of industrial market intelligence. Since 1983, IIR has provided comprehensive research, news and analysis on the industrial process, manufacturing and energy related industries. IIR's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) helps companies identify and pursue trends across multiple markets with access to real, qualified and validated plant and project opportunities. Across the world, IIR is tracking more than 200,000 current and future projects worth $17.8 Trillion (USD).
U.S. View of Nuclear Power
In a U.S. Gallup poll that has been administered since 1994, the polling agency found that 61% of respondents favored nuclear energy. This includes 29% who said they "strongly" support nuclear power as a U.S. power source and 32% who said they "somewhat" favor it. This represents a six-point gain since the question was last administered in 2023 and is one point away from the all-time high for support, which occurred in 2010.
Gallup makes a few observations about the poll: From 2004 through 2015, public support of nuclear power outpaced opposition. This changed in 2016, the only year that Gallup has recorded a majority of U.S. residents opposed to nuclear energy's use. While Gallup doesn't elaborate on reasons behind this one-year shift in opinion, it notes that it was a time of relatively low natural gas prices and that the public generally didn't see the need for energy relief through nuclear power.
Gallup provides a few other observations on the political breakdown of the results: 74% of Republicans, 64% of independents and 46% of Democrats back the use of nuclear power. Republicans and independents showed a sharp uptick in their support from the 2023 poll, with Republicans' support rising 12 percentage points and independents' rising eight points. Gallup notes that the last time a majority of Democrats supported nuclear power was 2012 and that their support has never surpassed 54%.
North Dakota Legislation
Several states are jumping to allocate funds for the study of nuclear power, with the latest being North Dakota. However, previous legislation in the state regarding nuclear waste disposal could prove a roadblock toward near-term development.
Last week, the state's House of Representatives passed Senate Bill 2159 and House Bill 1025, both of which call for the further study of the use of nuclear energy. The Senate bill calls for the state's Energy and Environmental Research Center (EERC) to study nuclear energy while the House Bill calls for a legislative study of the use of nuclear power in the state.
However, development of nuclear power in North Dakota has one existing hurdle that came about in a 2019 piece of legislation. After the U.S. Department of Energy proposed drilling an exploratory borehole to test the ability of the area's rock for nuclear waste storage, legislation was soon passed that prohibits "the placement, storage, exploration, testing, or disposal of high-level radioactive waste" in North Dakota.
With no federal nuclear waste repository in the U.S., plants are left to deal with their own waste, which often is stored in secure above-ground facilities on site. The Senate's EERC research bill could potentially lead to above-ground storage. North Dakota's House representative for the district where the U.S. wanted to investigate waste storage potential, Jon Nelson (R), is a strong supporter of nuclear power in the state. "We need to be a part of the conversation," he said of the nation's strengthening nuclear dialog. Nelson noted that protections were in place to keep North Dakota from becoming a "dumping ground" and that any nuclear research performed by EERC has to be approved by the state's Industrial Commission in consultation with North Dakota's High-Level Radioactive Waste Advisory Council.
Another License Renewal Application
Fresh off the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC) 20-year extension of the life of its Oconee nuclear power plant in South Carolina (see April 2, 2025, article - Duke Energy Gets Approval to Extend Operations at Oconee Nuclear Plant), Duke Energy Corporation (NYSE:DUK) (Charlotte, North Carolina) last week applied for another license renewal for a facility in the same state. This time, the plant is the 759-megawatt Robinson Nuclear Power Plant near Hartsville, which entered service in 1971. The facility received a previous life extension from the NRC in 2004, allowing it to operate until 2030. The latest license renewal application would allow the plant to operate until 2050.
Subscribers to Industrial Info's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) Plant Database can click here for the plant profile.
In a press release regarding the license renewal application, Laura Basta, the site vice president of the Robinson plant, said, "Though the first nuclear plant to enter commercial operation in the southeast, Robinson is a modernized plant fully prepared for operations into midcentury. We've invested approximately $1.7 billion into capital upgrades to our facility to enhance safety and efficiency."
Older News
Dow's Nuclear Goals
Relatively few organizations have active applications with the NRC for construction permits for nuclear reactors, and now Dow Incorporated (NYSE:DOW) (Midland, Michigan) has added a new twist to such an application: The company wants to operate its Seadrift chemicals plant, located on the Texas Gulf Coast about 80 miles from Corpus Christi, with small modular reactors (SMRs), which as the name implies have a much smaller footprint and generating capacity that traditional nuclear plants. Late last month, the company submitted an application to the NRC for the plant to be powered by four SMRs manufactured by X-energy (Rockville, Maryland). The application marks the first request to power a U.S. manufacturing site from nuclear power.
The Seadrift plant produces materials including plastics for food and pharmaceutical packaging, as well as chemicals used in antifreeze, soaps, paint and more. The plant currently uses natural gas, which provides both steam and electricity, but this equipment is aging, and Dow is now hoping to replace it in a few years' time with the SMRs. The facility would use four of X-energy's Xe-100 reactors, each of which can supply 80 MW of electricity or 200 megawatts' worth of steam. In discussing the application with MIT Technology Review, Harlan Bowers, senior vice president at X-energy, said that a plant such as Dow's requires steady delivery of both steam and power, and that the four reactors would operate with two of the units delivering steam, one unit delivering power to the plant, and the fourth unit selling power to the grid and available as backup power for the plant should one of the other reactors go offline.
The MIT release notes that the construction permit application could take up to two and a half years for the NRC to review and that the reactors would also require an operating license if construction is approved. Dow said it hopes to implement the new form of energy beginning "early next decade." Subscribers to Industrial Info's Chemical Processing Plant Database can click here for the plant profile.
AI-Enabled Nuclear Plant
While the initial announcement that California's only operating nuclear power plant, the Diablo Canyon plant in San Luis Obispo, is the first U.S. nuclear power plant to employ artificial intelligence (AI) was made some months ago, nuclear operators across the country are closely watching how the new technology streamlines the plant's operations. Executives at the plant's owner, PG&E Corporation (NYSE:PCG) (Oakland, California), are careful to note that the AI is acting more as a "co-pilot" and not a "decision-maker."
The Neutron Enterprise AI tool, developed by Atomic Canyon (San Luis Obispo), is now aiding operators and is forecast for full deployment at Diablo Canyon in the third quarter of this year, serving primarily as a document-retrieval system to access millions of pages from the NRC as well as plant-specific instructions and reports. Maureen Zawalick, PG&E's vice president of business and technical services, said, "We probably spend about 15,000 hours a year searching through our multiple databases and records and procedures," Zawalick said. "And that's going to shrink that time way down."
Trey Lauderdale, the chief executive officer of Atomic Canyon, told CalMatters that the company is in talks about deploying the technology with other nuclear facilities as well as groups interested in constructing SMRs.
The Diablo Canyon plant, which provides about 9% of California's electricity and 17% of its zero-carbon energy, is slated to begin the decommissioning process in 2029. Subscribers can learn more by viewing the plant profile.
Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of industrial market intelligence. Since 1983, IIR has provided comprehensive research, news and analysis on the industrial process, manufacturing and energy related industries. IIR's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) helps companies identify and pursue trends across multiple markets with access to real, qualified and validated plant and project opportunities. Across the world, IIR is tracking more than 200,000 current and future projects worth $17.8 Trillion (USD).
