The POWER Podcast

In 2018, Cooperative Energy, a generation and transmission co-op headquartered in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, had an issue to deal with. Several years earlier, it had joined the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO), giving the power provider access to a competitive market. However, Cooperative Energy’s R.D. Morrow Sr. Generating Station, a 400-MW two-unit coal-fired facility that had opened about 40 years earlier, was not being dispatched as the co-op would have liked. In fact, the facility’s capacity factor in those days was running at only about 3%. “We could not compete in the MISO market due to the cost of the unit, the lack of flexibility, [and] startup time—when you’re bidding the unit into a day-ahead market, a 42-hour startup time is not a good place to be,” Mark Smith, senior vice president of Power Generation with Cooperative Energy, explained as a guest on The POWER Podcast. Smith continued: “We had high transportation costs. Our coal came in by rail and the route from the mine to the plant was roughly 440 miles one way. So, the transportation cost was excessive. Environmental regulations—the goal post seems to keep moving and things keep ratcheting down—we didn’t know where we were heading. At the point that we did decommission, we were well within compliance, but the future was uncertain. It was going to require a lot of capital investment in the coal unit.” With that as a backdrop, Cooperative Energy made the decision to build a new gas-fired unit to take the place of the coal units. Cooperative Energy took a somewhat unconventional approach for the project, utilizing many of its own people to manage the job, rather than opting for a turnkey EPC (engineering, procurement, and construction) contractor. “There were several reasons for us to choose what we call the multi-contract approach, as opposed to utilizing an EPC contractor,” Trey Cannon, director of Generation Projects with Cooperative Energy, said on the podcast. “Probably the one that was most important to us is just having that full transparency and full control of the entire project, including technology selections and equipment procurement, selection of construction contractors, and things of that nature,” Cannon explained. There was also a cost savings involved. “We estimated that we probably saved at least 15% on the total budget by utilizing the self-build self-manage approach,” said Cannon. The results were phenomenal. The project finished well ahead of schedule and well under budget. Yet, Cannon admitted that a lot of the savings was due to circumstances. “The market conditions and the timing of the project couldn’t have been better,” he said. The market for power plants in 2018 was down, so Cooperative Energy was able to get very competitive pricing on the gas turbine and a lot of other equipment. As construction work kicked into full swing in 2020, the market took another dip with COVID and other factors pushing projects to the back burner. Cooperative Energy, however, pressed on and was able to cherry pick the best contractors and the best workers. To underscore how the project benefited from the quality of personnel it was able to attract, Smith noted, “The weld rejection rate for our mechanical contractor was 0.41%, which was remarkable.” Today, the repowered Morrow plant is the heavy-load-carrying unit in Cooperative Energy’s fleet. “Since we went commercial, I think we’re carrying a 90-plus-percent capacity factor on the unit,” said Cannon. “If it’s not the most-efficient plant in MISO South, it’s very close,” added Smith. “And, needless to say, if the unit is available—we’re not in a planned outage—it’s operating and it’s typically baseloaded. In MISO, the name of the game is flexibility, efficiency, and reliability. The Morrow repower has checked all of those boxes for us and has Cooperative Energy in a great position for many years to come.”

Nuclear power has consistently provided about 19% to 20% of total annual U.S. electricity generation since 1990. It provides significant amounts of electricity in many other countries as well. According to data from The World Nuclear Industry Status Report (WNISR), a total of 414 reactors were operating in 32 countries, as of July 1, 2024. Preliminary data says China generated the second-most electricity from nuclear power in 2023 (behind the U.S.), while France came in third and had the highest percentage share of national power generation from nuclear power at 65%. Many power industry experts and environmental activists consider nuclear power an important component in the world’s transition to carbon-free energy. Yet, Mycle Schneider, an independent international analyst on energy and nuclear policy, and coordinator, editor, and publisher of the annual WNISR, said, “in [new] capacity terms, the nuclear industry, from what is going on, on the ground, is totally irrelevant.” Schneider was speaking as a guest on The POWER Podcast and prefaced his statement by comparing nuclear power additions to solar power additions in recent years. “Let’s look at China, because China is the only country that has been massively building nuclear power plants over the past 20 years,” he said. “China connected one reactor to the grid in 2023—one gigawatt. In the same year, they connected, and the numbers vary, but over 200 gigawatts of solar alone. Solar power generates more electricity in China than nuclear power since 2022. And, of course, wind power generates more than nuclear power in China for a decade already,” Schneider said. Furthermore, he noted, the disparity has gone “completely unnoticed by the general public or even within the energy professionals that are in Europe or often also in North America.” Schneider said the media often gives the impression that the nuclear industry is booming, but the facts suggest otherwise. “Over the past 20 years—2004 to 2023—104 reactors were closed down and 102 started up,” Schneider said. “But here is important that almost half, 49 of those new reactors started, were in China [where none closed], so the balance outside China is minus 51.” Some nuclear advocates might suggest that things are changing. They might argue that small modular reactors (SMRs) or other advanced designs are poised to reinvigorate the industry. But Schneider disagrees. He noted that since the construction start of the second unit at Hinkley Point C in the UK in 2019—almost five years ago—there have been 35 nuclear project construction starts in the world. Twenty-two of those were in China and the other 13 were all implemented by the Russian nuclear industry in a few different countries. “Nothing else. Not an SMR here or an SMR there, or a large reactor here or a large reactor there by any other player,” reported Schneider. Schneider noted that the vast majority of new capacity being added to the grid is from solar and wind energy. “These guys are building tens of thousands of wind turbines, and literally hundreds of millions of solar cells, so the learning effect is just absolutely stunning,” he said. “On the nuclear side, we’re talking about a handful. That’s very difficult. Very, very difficult—very challenging—to have a learning effect with so few units.” Schneider said the nuclear discussion in general needs a “really thorough reality check.” He suggested the possibilities and feasibilities must be investigated. “Then, choices can be made on a solid basis,” he said.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reports SAIDI and SAIFI values in its Electric Power Annual report, which is regularly released in October each year. In the most recent report, the U.S. distribution system’s average SAIDI value including all events was 335.5 minutes per customer in 2022. If major event days were excluded, which is often a worthwhile exercise to get accurate long-term trends because hurricanes and severe winter storms, for example, can skew the numbers quite dramatically in a given year, the figure dropped to 125.7 minutes per customer. Notably, this the highest SAIDI value tallied in the past decade and it continued what has effectively been a steady year-over-year decline in performance from 2013 through 2022. (2017 saw a brief improvement over 2016, but every year before and since has been worse than the previous year during the timespan covered by the report.) For comparison, in 2013, the SAIDI value was 106.1 minutes per customer. SAIFI values do not vary as noticeably as SAIDI, but still have been worsening. In 2022, the U.S. distribution system’s average SAIFI value including all events was 1.4 power interruptions per customer. With major events excluded, SAIFI was 1.1 interruptions per customer in the U.S. While this was not substantially worse than values reported in other years over the past decade (every year from 2013 onward has been 1.0, except for 2016 when the value was also 1.1), it seems to confirm that the system hasn’t been improving. Yet, Mike Edmonds, Chief Operating Officer for S&C Electric Company, said several things can be done to improve the reliability and resiliency of the power distribution system. “The grid looks different depending on what state you’re in,” Edmonds said as a guest on The POWER Podcast. “We’ve got great experience with Florida Power & Light [FPL],” he said. “We’ve helped them create a resilient grid. So, that’s not only a grid that is reliable, but a grid that can actually weather the storms and all the challenges thrown at the grid.” Notably, FPL reported in March that it had provided “the most reliable electric service in company history in 2023.” Over the past two decades, FPL said its customers have realized a remarkable 45% improvement in reliability. In NextEra Energy’s (the parent company of FPL) Sustainability Report 2023, the company reported FPL’s SAIDI was 47.1 and SAIFI was 0.85, confirming markedly better results than the U.S. averages noted earlier. Furthermore, FPL said this is the ninth time in the past 10 years that it achieved “its best-ever reliability rating.” To better understand some of the innovative new equipment S&C Electric Company offers, Edmonds provided an example. “We have some technology that does something called ‘pulse finding,’ and what Florida Power & Light does, it just lets our equipment do what it does best. If there’s a problem, it’ll pulse to see if the problem is there or not on the grid, if it’s not, it reenergizes,” he said. “This technology is available to really change how the grid operates.” Edmonds said S&C Electric Company invented the fuse 115 years ago, and he noted fuses have served the industry well since that time. However, today there is better technology available that doesn’t require a lineworker to respond to an outage to replace a fuse. “Let’s take fuses off the grid and have a fuseless grid, and have much more intelligent devices that can actually re-energize,” Edmonds decreed.

FBI Director Christopher Wray, while speaking at the Vanderbilt Summit on Modern Conflict and Emerging Threats in Nashville, Tennessee, in April, warned that U.S. critical infrastructure is a prime target of the Chinese government. “The fact is, the PRC’s [People’s Republic of China’s] targeting of our critical infrastructure is both broad and unrelenting,” he said. Wray also noted that the immense size and expanding nature of the Chinese Communist Party’s hacking program isn’t just aimed at stealing American intellectual property. “It’s using that mass, those numbers, to give itself the ability to physically wreak havoc on our critical infrastructure at a time of its choosing,” he said. Wray noted that during the FBI’s recent Volt Typhoon investigation, the Bureau found that the Chinese government had gained illicit access to networks within America’s “critical telecommunications, energy, water, and other infrastructure sectors.” Some cybersecurity experts have likened this activity to an act of war, although NATO hasn’t defined it as such just yet. In any case, it is a serious threat to national security. “In this country, critical infrastructure is operated by the private sector, most of which are publicly traded companies,” said Alex Santos, CEO of Fortress Information Security, a company that specializes in cyber supply chain security for organizations that operate critical infrastructure including utilities and government agencies. Santos was speaking as a guest on The POWER Podcast. “Somehow, the private sector has taken on the responsibility to defend these acts of war, which I was always taught is the responsibility of the government,” he said. “I think what’s really the point here is that the government is asking us to do more. We’re being attacked more by the adversaries. Regulations are coming in. It’s becoming more and more complicated with technology change. And, our budgets are being cut,” said Santos. Thus, while Wray can be commended for pointing out the national security problem Chinese hackers present to critical infrastructure, his words fall flat if the government doesn’t put its money where its mouth is, Santos suggested. That’s not to say money isn’t being spent by the U.S. government. “The government is spending a lot on cybersecurity to help companies, but it’s going to research and universities,” Santos said. “How many research studies do we need to tell us that cybersecurity is a problem? How many research studies do we need to tell us that we don’t have enough cybersecurity workers? How much research do we need to give us 10 recommendations for how to increase the capability of our cybersecurity workforce? At some point, we need to actually do the work.” Santos suggested money could be better spent helping companies repair vulnerabilities or by getting small businesses to install basic security precautions like endpoint protection and network monitoring. “Does the government study how to build a tank or do they build tanks?” Santos asked rhetorically. “The government builds tanks and they buy bullets,” he answered. “So, think of it that way. We need to buy more tanks and bullets, and less research studies on which tanks, how many tanks, what kind of tanks—tanks with wheels, tanks with tracks—you know, let’s buy some tanks,” he said.

The power industry has long been lamenting its aging workforce. While turnover has been happening for years, there remains a large percentage of power professionals on the verge of retirement. Furthermore, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts faster than average job growth for engineering occupations. That means experienced workers with the skills needed by the power industry are in high demand and can be choosy when looking for new opportunities. They can also demand higher compensation to make a change. Meanwhile, relative youngsters coming out of college and trade schools, while often having the fundamental knowledge to do power jobs, don’t usually have the experience needed to add immediate value to an organization. The situation is forcing companies to implement workforce development strategies. Mechanical Dynamics & Analysis (MD&A) is a company that offers a full-service alternative to original equipment manufacturer services, parts, and repairs for steam, gas, and industrial turbines and generators. Like other power industry companies, MD&A has found it challenging to recruit experienced engineers. “When we started out back in the early 80s, we started out as a company who tended to hire engineers who were very experienced. And back around 2009, we started to realize that those people were becoming a little harder to find,” Charles Monestere, general manager for Technical Services with MD&A, said as a guest on The POWER Podcast. “So, we started hiring a few engineers a year—some years one person, some years two or three people, maybe even a little bit more—and we developed an in-house program where we would bring in generally recent graduates, within a year or two or three out of school, and put them through some classroom training, but then a structured on-the-job training where we would have weekly meetings reviewing the activities on the job sites,” he explained. “And we’d put the young engineers with very experienced project managers and technical directors that are at the sites—the field engineers who have been doing this for many years.” Called the Engineers in Training (EIT) program, the instruction tasked learners with becoming proficient at and gaining knowledge on many different technical aspects of the job. “A good part of the work is on the job sites; however, there is some structured classroom training, which is integrated into it,” Monestere said. In recent years, finding experienced people has become even more difficult, leading MD&A to increase its hiring into the EIT program. “We’re actually targeting about 10 people a year now,” said Monestere. “We’re just hiring in five more this summer, and then, probably another five or so at the end of the year. So, that’s the direction we’re heading.” Colin Baker, one of MD&A’s newest field engineers, participated in the program and found it very worthwhile. “Working with all these really great and really smart engineers, you get all of their experience firsthand, and you learn what’s right and what’s wrong,” he said. “Also, with all these classes that you’re put through, you use all of that knowledge and you learn where to apply it when you’re actually out in the field.” Meanwhile, Baker said the program also offered him an opportunity to network within the industry and in the company. Baker said he now has multiple experts he can contact when he runs into problems. “Especially with MD&A, you can always reach out to anyone for help. Everyone is pretty much readily available for any kind of questions or something of that matter,” he said. “I’m still very new in the industry and I’m not going to know everything. I know people who do know most things, so it’s good to get these kinds of resources.”

Wildfires have had a devastating impact on California and on the state’s largest utility company, Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E). Potential wildfire liabilities exceeding $30 billion led PG&E to file for bankruptcy in January 2019. The company emerged from bankruptcy on July 1, 2020, with a renewed focus on mitigating wildfires within its 70,000-square-mile service territory in northern and central California. “A lot has changed,” Andy Abranches, senior director of Wildfire Preparedness and Operations with PG&E, said as a guest on The POWER Podcast. “We really saw the devastation that could occur from these wildfires, and so, that was the point that PG&E started really making a big pivot to addressing the wildfire risk. The way we address the wildfire risk is really through what we consider our layers of protection. We started initially learning as much as we could from San Diego Gas and Electric [SDG&E], and put in place the public safety power shutoff program.” High-fire-threat district maps were important in understanding risks. About half of PG&E’s service territory falls in high-fire-threat areas. “We have 25,000 distribution miles that run through the high-fire-threat districts and 5,000 transmission miles,” said Abranches. Vegetation plays a critical role in the risk, and while precisely quantifying the number of trees in and around those risky transmission and distribution lines is difficult, Abranches estimated it’s in the range of eight to 10 million. With such a large area and so many trees to monitor, PG&E turned to Planet Labs, a San Francisco-based provider of global, daily satellite imagery and geospatial solutions, for help. Planet’s satellite-derived data on vegetation, including canopy height, cover, and proximity to electric-system infrastructure, is used by PG&E to prioritize the mitigation of vegetation-associated risks. Quantifying Threats and Consequences Abranches explained PG&E’s risk characterization process by likening it to a bowtie. “The first part of your risk bowtie is: ‘How do you quantify and in a probabilistic way build a risk model to predict ignitions are going to happen?’ ” He noted that the biggest source of ignitions is through contact with vegetation, such as a tree falling on a line or a branch coming into contact with a line on a windy day, but birds and other animals can also cause ignitions. “The second half of the bowtie is the consequence,” said Abranches. “If an ignition occurs at a particular location, if the vegetation around it is just not there, that ignition will never spread.” The fire triangle requires heat (or a spark), oxygen, and fuel. The fuel is the vegetation bed around the line where the ignition event occurs. If there happens to be a lot of dry fuel, that’s when an ignition becomes a wildfire. Depending on the oxygen, which can be heavily influenced by wind conditions, it could become a catastrophic fire, Abranches explained. “As we built our risk models, you needed to understand the vegetation dimension on two levels. One level is for probability of ignitions: ‘How do we get better at predicting where we expect vegetation ignitions to occur?’ And the data that we’re able to get from Planet every year helps improve and keeps those models updated,” said Abranches. “The second piece of it is the consequence of the ignition—understanding the fuel layer. That also—data from Planet—helps inform and continually refreshes that information to make sure it’s most current. So, the risk model actually uses the Planet data on both sides of the bowtie, because it’s probability of ignition times the consequence of ignition gives you the risk event.”

It’s no secret that the U.S. electric power system has undergone a remarkable transition that continues today. Coal-fired generation, which was the leading source of power generation during the 20th century, often providing more than half of the country’s electricity supply, fell to about 16.2% of the mix in 2023. Meanwhile, the U.S. solar market installed 32.4 GWdc of electricity-generation capacity last year, a 51% increase from 2022, and the industry’s biggest year by far, exceeding the 30-GWdc threshold for the first time. Solar accounted for 53% of all new electricity-generating capacity added to the U.S. grid in 2023, far greater than natural gas and wind, which were second and third on the list, accounting for 18% and 13% of new additions, respectively. But, how is the shift in resources affecting power system reliability? Some experts say it’s not good. “We’ve got a lot of warning lights that appear to be flashing today,” Todd Snitchler, president and CEO of the Electric Power Supply Association (EPSA), said as a guest on The POWER Podcast. “I say that not just from our perspective, but from NERC [the North American Electric Reliability Corp.]—the reliability coordinator—or from FERC [the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission], who has also expressed concerns, and all of the grid operators around the country have raised concerns about the pace of the energy transition.” EPSA is the national trade association representing America’s competitive power suppliers. It believes strongly in the value of competition and the benefits competitive markets provide to power customers. “Our members have every incentive to be the least-cost, most-reliable option that’s available, because if you are that resource, you’re going to be the resource that’s selected to run,” said Snitchler. Yet, not all markets are providing a level playing field, according to Snitchler. “The challenge we’re seeing is that there are a number of resources that are either having regulatory burdens that are placed on them that make them less competitive in comparison to resources that are not facing the same challenges, or there are resources that are highly subsidized, and as a result of those subsidies, it creates an economic disadvantage to unsubsidized resources, and that puts economic pressure on units that would otherwise be able to run and would earn a sufficient amount of revenue to remain on the system,” he explained. “We’re also seeing a pretty significant acceleration in retirements off of the system of dispatchable resources,” Snitchler continued. “What does that mean? So, of course, it means the coal plants that have been on the system for decades, as a result of economics and environmental policies, are retiring and moving off of the system. You’re seeing some of the older gas units experience the same kind of financial and regulatory pressures, and that is forcing some of them off of the system. And we’re seeing a large penetration of new renewable resources come onto the system that, frankly, are good energy resources, but don’t have the same performance characteristics that the dispatchable resources have. “And so, we’re having to fill a gap, or as I call it, the delta between aspirational policy goals and operational realities of the system, because too much retirement of dispatchable resources without sufficient resources that can replicate or deliver the same types of services that those dispatchable resources can provide, creates reliability concerns,” said Snitchler.

It’s no secret that power grids around the world need to expand to accommodate more renewable energy and the so-called “electrification of everything.” The latter, of course, refers to the growing trend of using electricity to power various sectors and applications that have traditionally relied on fossil fuels, such as natural gas or petroleum-based products. The electrification of everything includes the push toward electric vehicles; the transition from fossil fuel–based heating and cooling systems to electric alternatives, as well as the adoption of electric appliances; and the shift to more electric motors, furnaces, and other electric-powered equipment in manufacturing processes. Add to that the expected power needed to supply data centers and the growth of artificial intelligence-related computing, and current estimates of 50% load growth by 2050 could be vastly understated. Yet, getting new transmission lines planned, approved, and constructed is a daunting task, often taking a decade or longer to complete. So, how can the world more quickly add transmission capacity to the system without investing enormous time and money in the process? The answer: grid enhancing technologies, or GETs. “GETs are exciting to us because they are technologies that help us unlock quickly the additional headroom or additional capability of the grid to carry energy across the system,” Alexina Jackson, vice president of Strategic Development with AES Corp., said as a guest on The POWER Podcast. “This is something that is very important, because today, we are not making the fullest use of the electricity system as it’s built.” The system is operated below its maximum capacity for very good reasons, specifically, to maintain reliability, but by implementing GETs, it can be operated closer to its true limits without risk of failure. “Once we have these technologies, such as dynamic line rating, which helps us visualize the dynamic and full headroom of the electrical grid, and then technologies like storage as transmission, advanced power flow control, topology optimization—they all allow us to operate the grid in its dynamic capability. By doing both these things—visualization and operation dynamically—we’re able to start making fuller use of that carrying capacity for energy, which will allow us to add additional energy more quickly, serve our customer needs more efficiently, and ultimately decarbonize faster,” Jackson said. To read AES's white paper, visit: https://www.aes.com/sites/aes.com/files/2024-04/Smarter-Use-of-the-Dynamic-Grid-Whitepaper.pdf

There are several obstacles to overcome when building a clean-energy project, but perhaps the biggest is getting through the generator interconnection queue (GIQ). Every regional transmission organization (RTO) and independent system operator (ISO) in the U.S. has a significant backlog in its GIQ and processing interconnection requests can take years to complete. This has created a significant barrier to deploying renewable energy, as companies often face long wait times, and high costs for new transmission lines and other upgrades when the local grid is near or at capacity. Part of the problem is the complexity of the interconnection process, which involves multiple studies. The Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) reports that historically about 70% of projects submitted to its queue ultimately withdraw, resulting in extensive rework and delays, as studies must be redone when projects withdraw. MISO recognizes change is necessary and has implemented some reforms. On Jan. 19, 2024, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) accepted MISO’s filing (ER24-340) to increase milestone payments, adopt an automatic withdrawal penalty, revise withdrawal penalty provisions, and expand site control requirements. These provisions were designed to help expedite the GIQ process, and maximize transparency and certainty. MISO said the filing was developed through extensive collaboration in the stakeholder process, including multiple discussions in the Planning Advisory Committee and Interconnection Process Working Group. MISO expects these reforms to reduce the number of queue requests withdrawing from the process. It said the fewer projects in studies, the quicker the evaluations can be completed, and the fewer projects that withdraw, the more certain phase 1 and 2 study results are. Still, it’s likely that more needs to be done to improve the GIQ process. The Clean Grid Alliance (CGA), a nonprofit organization that works to advance renewable energy in the Midwest, conducted a survey of 14 clean energy developers who’ve had solar, wind, hybrid, and battery storage projects in the MISO interconnection queue over the last five years to better understand the challenges they’ve faced. Aside from interconnection queue challenges, the CGA survey also identified other hindrances to clean-energy project development. Soholt explained that a lot of development work is done face to face. COVID prevented that, which was a big problem that had a ripple effect. Some leases that developers had negotiated began to expire, so they had to go back out to communities and renegotiate. “Siting in general is getting more difficult, as we do more volume, as we do transmission in the MISO footprint,” said Soholt. “We need new generation to be sited, we need new transmission, and we have to find a pathway forward on that community acceptance piece,” she said. Among other challenges, Soholt said some projects saw generator interconnection agreements (GIAs) timing out and needing MISO extensions. Meanwhile, transmission upgrade delays also presented problems, not only the large backbone transmission upgrades, but also the transmission owners building interconnections for individual projects to connect breakers, transformers, and other equipment. Soholt said longer and longer component lead times presented timing challenges, which were also problematic for developers. These were all important takeaways from the CGA survey, and items the group will work to resolve. Yet, for all the difficulties, Soholt seemed optimistic that MISO would continue to find ways to improve the process. “When we get overwhelmed, we really step back and say, ‘What’s going to be the best thing to work on to really make a difference?’ So far, that really has been the big things like transmission planning. We feel good about where that’s at in MISO—they are doing good long-range planning,” Soholt said.

Today, molten salt reactors (MSRs) are experiencing a resurgence of interest worldwide, with numerous companies and research institutions actively developing various designs. MSRs offer several potential advantages, including enhanced safety, reduced waste generation, and the ability to utilize thorium as a fuel source, as previously mentioned. “There are several molten salt reactor companies that are in the process of cutting deals and getting MOIs [memorandums of intent] with foreign countries,” Mike Conley, author of the book Earth Is a Nuclear Planet: The Environmental Case for Nuclear Power, said as a guest on The POWER Podcast. Conley is a nuclear energy advocate and strong believer in MSR technology. He called MSRs “a far superior reactor technology” compared to light-water reactors (LWRs). The thorium fuel cycle is a key component in at least some MSR designs. The thorium fuel cycle is the path that thorium transmutes through from fertile source fuel to uranium fuel ready for fission. Thorium-232 (Th-232) absorbs a neutron, transmuting it into Th-233. Th-233 beta decays to protactinium-233 (Pa-233), and finally undergoes a second beta minus decay to become uranium-233 (U-233). This is the one way of turning natural and abundant Th-232 into something fissionable. Since U-233 is not naturally found but makes an ideal nuclear reactor fuel, it is a much sought-after fuel cycle. “The best way to do this is in a molten salt reactor, which is an incredible advance in reactor design. And the big thing is, whether you’re fueling a molten salt reactor with uranium or thorium or plutonium or whatever, it’s a far superior reactor technology. It absolutely cannot melt down under any circumstances whatsoever period,” said Conley. Conley suggested that most of the concern people have about nuclear power revolves around the spread of radioactive material. Specifically, no matter how unlikely it is, if an accident occurred and contamination went airborne, the fact that it could spread beyond the plant boundary is worrisome to many people who oppose nuclear power. “The nice thing about a molten salt reactor is: if a molten salt reactor just goes belly up and breaks or gets destroyed or gets sabotaged, you’ll have a messed-up reactor room with a pancake of rock salt on the floor, but not a cloud of radioactive steam that’s going to go 100 miles downwind,” Conley explained. And the price for an MSR could be much more attractive than the cost of currently available GW-scale LWR units. “The ThorCon company is predicting that they will be able to build for $1 a watt,” said Conley. “That’s one-fourteenth of what Vogtle was,” he added, referring to Southern Company’s nuclear expansion project in Georgia, which includes two Westinghouse AP1000 units. Of course, projections do not always align with reality, so MSR pilot projects will be keenly watched to validate claims. There is progress being made on MSR projects. For example, in February 2022, TerraPower and Southern Company announced an agreement to design, construct, and operate the Molten Chloride Reactor Experiment (MCRE)—the world’s first critical fast-spectrum salt reactor—at Idaho National Laboratory (INL). Since then, Southern Company reported successfully commencing pumped-salt operations in the Integrated Effects Test (IET), signifying a major achievement for the project. The IET is a non-nuclear, externally heated, 1-MW multiloop system, located at TerraPower’s laboratory in Everett, Washington. “The IET will inform the design, licensing, and operation of an approximately 180-MW MCFR [Molten Chloride Fast Reactor] demonstration planned for the early 2030s timeframe,” Southern Company said.