The Palo Verde nuclear station in Arizona.

18 Nov (NucNet): A long-term commitment to research is needed if nuclear energy is to remain a part of the energy mix, according to expert witnesses at a US Senate hearing this week.

“If you do not take a major initiative now, it is inevitable that in 2030 the country will not have a nuclear [energy] option,” Massachusetts Institute of Technology Institute Professor John Deutch told the hearing, according to the Washington-based Nuclear Energy Institute.



“If the country is going to have a nuclear [energy] option in 2030, it must undertake an initiative of the scope and size that this committee described,” Prof. Deutch said.



“Any such initiative is going to require time, considerable federal resources, redesign of electricity markets, and sustained and skilled management.”



A report prepared by a US Department of Energy task force headed by Prof. Deutch sees four phases in which various advanced reactor designs – including both small modular and large reactor designs – are selected, developed and demonstrated over the coming decades.



The report estimates that such a programme would require about 25 years and $11.5bn (€18.8bn).



In addition to this long-term plan, the task force said that preserving existing nuclear plants is essential to meet US carbon reduction goals.



The report is online: http://bit.ly/2fLBGPA