What U.S. Legislation and/or Initiatives are driving nuclear energy R&D/expansion/usage?

Federal

The Department of Energy is currently pursuing several nuclear initiatives:

• The Nuclear Power 2010 initiative, begun in 2002, recognizes the lack of nuclear development in the U.S. for the past 25 years, as well as increased reliance on natural gas power plants. The DOE wishes to diversify and increase the long-term stability of the United State’s energy portfolio by promoting innovation in the nuclear power field. The program is a partnership between government and industry "to identify sites for new nuclear power plants, develop and bring to market advanced nuclear plant technologies, evaluate the business case for building new nuclear power plants, and demonstrate untested regulatory processes." New plants created through this initiative would begin operating around 2015.[1]
• The Nuclear Hydrogen Initiative (NHI) seeks to demonstrate the possibility of creating large quantities of hydrogen using nuclear energy. Current means of producing useable hydrogen also involve the production of greenhouse gasses – nuclear hydrogen production would be a greener alternative. This hydrogen could be used to support the production of petroleum products and plastics as well as an alternative fuel in hydrogen combustion engines and fuel cells. Hydrogen production will be possible with new Generation IV plants, Very High Temperature Reactors, the DOE’s choice for the Next Generation Nuclear Plant. NHI plans to perform initial R&D and conduct initial experiments in 2010-2014, creating a working system to study by 2017.[2] The Department of Energy requested $16.6 million in funding for the NHI for 2009.[3]
• The Advanced Fuel Cycle Initiative seeks innovative fuel cycle solutions that decrease the impact of nuclear waste. Research & development efforts in the near-term will focus on reducing the volume and heat generation of spent nuclear fuels, as well as developing advanced fuels for next generation reactors. Current plans for Next Generation Nuclear Plants involve fuel recycling, which will reduce the amount of nuclear waste sent to geologic repositories, increasing the capacity of the planned Yucca Mountain repository fifty-fold. Additionally, this waste would have a lifetime of only about 1,000 years, as compared to tens of thousands of years for current nuclear waste.[4] The Department of Energy requested $301.5 million in funding for the Advanced Fuel Cycle Initiative for 2009.[5]

Incentives for development

If legislators adopt a cap-and-trade system or a tax on carbon emissions, nuclear energy would become even more attractive, as it is a zero-carbon option for producing electricity.[6]

Research by Margaret Rich