DOE issues $12.5B Advanced Nuclear Energy Projects loan guarantee solicitation

11 December 2014

The US Department of Energy (DOE) issued the Advanced Nuclear Energy Projects loan guarantee solicitation, which provides as much as $12.5 billion to support innovative nuclear energy projects. With the issuance of this solicitation, DOE’s Loan Programs Office (LPO) now has open solicitations in four areas, also including the $8-billion Advanced Fossil Energy Projects Solicitation, the $4-billion Renewable Energy and Efficient Energy Projects Solicitation, and the $16-billion Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing (ATVM) loan program.

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Authorized by Title XVII of the Energy Policy Act of 2005, the Advanced Nuclear Energy Projects Solicitation would provide loan guarantees to support the construction of innovative nuclear energy and front-end nuclear projects in the US that reduce, avoid, or sequester greenhouse gas emissions.

While any project that meets the eligibility requirements may apply, the Department has identified four key technology areas of interest in the solicitation:

1. Technology Area 1: Advanced Nuclear Reactors. This area focuses on nuclear energy projects with evolutionary, state-of-the-art design improvements in the areas of fuel technology, thermal efficiency, modularized construction, safety systems, and standardized design.

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   Technology Area 2: Small Modular Reactors (SMRs). This area focuses on nuclear energy projects with evolutionary, state-of-the-art design improvements in the areas of fuel technology, thermal efficiency, modularized construction, safety systems, and standardized design and are nominally 300 MWe or smaller in size.

3. Technology Area 3: Uprates and Upgrades at Existing Facilities. This area focuses on projects consisting of improvements and/or modifications to an existing reactor that is (1) operating but that due to such improvements and/or modifications will operate more efficiently and/or will increase capacity; (2) is not operating and cannot operate without such improvements and/or modifications or; (3) is operating but would be required to cease operating unless such improvements and/or modifications are made.

4. Technology Area 4: Front-End Nuclear. This area focuses on advanced nuclear facilities for the “front- end” of the nuclear fuel cycle. Of the $12.5 billion available under this solicitation, $2 billion is available exclusively for “front-end” projects. This could include:

   • Uranium Conversion Projects that economically convert U3O8 powder into a gaseous form of uranium hexafluoride;
   • Uranium Enrichment Projects or facilities that transform natural uranium or uranium tails to a higher isotopic content of U235 including by (1) gas centrifuge or (2) laser isotope separation and;
   • Nuclear Fuel Fabrication Projects that fabricate nuclear fuel including (1) production of UO2 powder that is “reconverted” from enriched UF6 gas from enrichment plants; (2) formation of UO2 pellets from UO2 powder through compaction and sintering; and (3) fuel assembly (i.e. insertion of pellets into zircaloy tubes and formation of a fuel assembly using fasteners.)

Applications will undergo a two-part review. Part I will determine the initial eligibility of a project and whether it is ready to proceed. Applications that clear Part I are invited to Part II, which initiates the next stage of due diligence and underwriting.

The first deadline for Part I applications is 18 March 2015, followed by rolling deadlines approximately every six months.

To date, LPO has supported a diverse portfolio of loans, loan guarantees, and commitments, supporting more than 30 projects nationwide. The projects that LPO has supported include the first nuclear power plant to begin construction in the US in the last three decades, one of the world’s largest wind farms, several of the world’s largest solar generation and thermal energy storage systems, and more than a dozen new or retooled auto manufacturing plants across the country.