Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) has added nuclear energy technologies to their portfolio of projects to support the broader mission of ensuring the U.S. technological lead in energy and bolstering U.S. economic and energy security. One of the major challenge areas for the nuclear industry is in operation and maintenance (O&M), as this represents a much greater proportion of the cost of nuclear power generation than other generation sources, including natural gas and renewables. Reducing construction cost of nuclear units will also be critical to improving the economic competitiveness of nuclear versus other energy sources. ARPA-E is hoping to address such issues through facilitating technological innovations affecting the cost competitiveness and viability of nuclear power, especially future SMR and advanced reactor designs. Areas on which ARPA-E is focusing in the nuclear area include: advanced construction materials, load following capabilities, incorporation of additive manufacturing technologies, automation and artificial intelligence, advanced modeling and simulation, etc.
