Allegheny Science & Technology Corporation prepared this re[port under a DOE contract.
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND.........................................................1
CHAPTER 2: THREATS TO THE FEDERAL POWER SYSTEM AND THE
NEED FOR RESILIENCE ..................................................................................... 7
CHAPTER 3: BUYING RESILIENCE FROM A SMALL MODULAR
REACTOR .............................................................................................................21
CHAPTER 4: COST REDUCTION TOOLS FOR INNOVATIVE NUCLEAR POWER
PROJECTS ............................................................................................................31
CHAPTER 5: TENNESSEE VALLEY AUTHORITY AND MODEL
CLINCH RIVER SITE PROJECT .......................................................................37
CHAPTER 6: KEY CONSIDERATIONS FOR THE SMR CLINCH RIVER
SITE PROJECT ....................................................................................................43
CHAPTER 7: RECOMMENDATIONS ....................................................................................57
APPENDICES
APPENDIX A Executive Summary of Purchasing Power Produced by Small Modular
Reactors: Federal Agency Options
APPENDIX B Potential Benefits Offered by Small Modular Reactors
APPENDIX C List of Abbreviations
APPENDIX D Endnotes
Small Modular Reactors: Adding to Resilience at Federal Facilities (this “Report”) expands on the January 2017 report entitled Purchasing Power Produced by Small Modular Reactors (SMRs): Federal Agency Options (the “Initial Report”).
The Initial Report focused on assisting federal agencies to identify options to participate in the purchase of power produced by small modular reactors (“SMRs”), the structure and issues with financing an SMR, and the unique issues that federal agencies face when making power purchase decisions. The Initial Report identified how federal agencies can purchase SMR-produced power through long-term agreements (over thirty (30) years) by using the Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems (“UAMPS”) SMR project as an example. SMRs are designed to provide valuable resilience services as a secure, reliable, and flexible source of primary and backup power. SMRs, coupled with transmission hardening, could provide highly reliable, non-intermittent, clean, and carbon-free power. SMRs can also easily store two years’ worth of fuel on-site. Certain SMR designs allow for output to be varied over days, hours, or minutes, thereby enabling the SMR to ramp up quickly in
the case of a grid outage and adjust to be in line with changing load demands.
This Report identifies the need for energy resilience and how an SMR can provide such a service for federal agencies. As an illustrative example, this Report focuses on the
SMR project being developed by the Tennessee Valley Authority (“TVA”) in Oak Ridge, Tennessee on a site adjacent to critical U.S. Department of Energy (“DOE”) and National Nuclear Security Administration (“NNSA”) facilities (referred to herein as the Oak Ridge Reservation).
Energy resilience is the ability to prepare for and recover from energy disruptions such as extreme weather events, physical attacks, cyber-attacks, and electromagnetic
interference. Resilient power systems minimize the effect of such failures, which DOE estimates cost U.S. businesses approximately $150 billion per year. Having a resilient power source during a power outage can save billions of dollars, maintain critical services, and protect lives. Governmental entities are increasingly focusing on energy resilience through the passage of legislation, issuance of executive directives, the purchasing of resilient energy sources, and the commissioning of research like the DOE’s August 2017 Staff Report on Electricity Markets and Reliability. This year Congress is requiring that, “The Secretary of Defense shall ensure the readiness of the armed forces for their military missions by pursuing energy security and energy resilience. In fact, the Fiscal Year 2018 National Defense Authorization Act (“NDAA”) includes a new section on energy “resilience” for military bases which sets requirement for the military and defines energy resilience.
U.S. military and other national defense facilities (such as DOE’s laboratories and weapons facilities) have made energy resilience a key operational priority and are actively procuring backup power at military bases. Energy resilience for individual facilities requires power generation and delivery capabilities that can be accessed in the event of a grid outage. This typically entails investing in backup power supply systems which can be activated when the grid goes down. In some cases, backup power may be provided by installing a “behind the meter” on-site power source that provides power to the grid during normal circumstances but can also be isolated from the grid through “islanding” during grid failures. Both options incur additional costs borne by the single beneficiary of the backup power. Common methods for energy resilience include installing generators and/or microgrids, improving cybersecurity, and physical site hardening.
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