[Music]
all right so let's go ahead and get
started I think we're going to be one
shy of a quorum so we're gonna
um
postpone voting on the minutes
um until the Q4 meeting which is fine I
think that was the only main big thing
we were going to vote on
um we have a good agenda though as
you'll see we've got some
um
Jeremy Harrell from clearpath's going to
join us again he there he is he's on
there
on on the WebEx which is great he's
going to provide some updates on a lot
of really exciting activity at the
federal level um we're going to go a
little bit over the the Virginia energy
plan we'll share just a little bit
um as that's going to be rolling out
soon
um April will provide us an update on
some of Unix efforts
um we've got a couple there
um items to to go over as well so thanks
everybody for joining us
um I will kick it off
um with a quick safety message
um this was one actually reminded me I I
know usually because I'm fresh off
driving down here and end up doing one
on on commuting
um but it is true that with the uh
changing of the seasons and the fact
that we haven't you know Daylight
Savings Time doesn't switch until
November
um I don't know if you all are noticing
but in the morning and in the evening
um both dark and
I seem to be driving home these days
with the sun directly in my eyes almost
um so just as as you know as we're
getting um into fall and then in the in
a winter and as things change just be
you know kind of an awareness as you're
as you're creating there's a lot more
activity out on the road so we're just
talking about the check is definitely
picking up
um
to kind of the pre-covered levels so I'm
just a reminder for everyone to just be
aware
um as you're as you're commuting and
driving around these days
um but as as we said I I do want to I um
to jump into Jeremy here
um real quick but
there is a lot going on
um both in the clean energy and nuclear
energy space here um in the Commonwealth
at Federal level so
um I think both this meeting and
um as we wrap up the year with our our
fourth quarter and looking at some of
the annual report stuff
um there's a lot of really uh
interesting and exciting things to
discuss so
um
before we get to Jeremy why don't we
since we've got him on why don't we just
go around the room we've got some a
couple new faces here um and just
introduce
um Everybody uh and then and then we'll
get started so Michael do you want to
kick us off hey Michael lunkier on the
nuclear Environmental Group for hii
yeah Rich denhams director of energy and
engineering research at Liberty
University
Jeff Fox director of research
development and the School of
Engineering at University of Virginia
hello everybody uh Arlen Volstead from
State Corporation Commission general
counsel's office
David Essa also from the SEC director of
the division of public utility
regulation
aye Gary Templer interim of engineering
at ucu
April 8th executive Consortium
she's very excited representing the
American nuclear Society
energy and Regulatory manager at the
Virginia Department of energy
I'm John Capps representing Virginia's
community colleges
highly recommend reading chlorine with
the Dominion Energy Innovation Center
I've been here since you have a
Consulting we represent Randy currency
Consortium
and Brandy do you want to
Brandy raise your best pitch uh Virginia
energy Virginia Department of energy
data analytics
uh Ryan Welsh Virginia Department of
energy energy technology analyst
and Ryan Welsh just said the board knows
we'll be taking over his lead for benica
um in the in the coming year I'm going
to still act as a supporting role and I
will still plan to attend regular really
in that supporting role but he's going
to take the lead to help
kind of some of the load it'll help me
all right thanks
um so we are fortunate
um again to be joined by Jeremy Harrell
who is the chief strategy officer at
Clearpath you may all remember Jeremy
provided a briefing for our group early
last year
um I asked Jeremy he both uh in his role
with Clearpath but he's also the
chairman of the board for the U.S
nuclear Industry Council there is a like
I said a lot going on at the federal
level uh Jeremy's an expert in the
policy clean energy space and I thought
it'd be great for him to kind of give us
an update of what's what all is
happening and maybe answer any questions
that folks may have about inflation
reduction act or other
policies so Jeremy I'll turn it over to
you we can see your slides and hopefully
you can see us too
awesome yep I can see you all as well
thanks Tom for the uh very kind
introduction and it's really great to
see you all sorry I couldn't be there in
person today
um but hopefully I'll make one of these
uh I'm Live In the Flesh at some point
and in the next couple years I really
appreciate the opportunity to to discuss
this stuff with you all and as Tom
mentioned it's been a lot of exciting
development that's been happening in
Washington DC in this space particularly
in the clean energy space and with a uh
really um I think uh you know relative
to the other Clean Energy Technologies
uh disproportionate uh amount of
successes and policy that's been put in
place aimed at growing U.S nuclear
growth and so I'm going to go over
through some of those uh things uh over
over the next period of time one thing I
want to put out there folks interrupt me
as uh you need if there's a question
that comes up something along those
lines I want this to be the most helpful
for you it does not need to meet me just
presenting slides and such to you all so
please please interrupt me
um and I'm happy to answer any questions
uh that you might have
um Tom give kind of an overview of me
you know clear path is just a non-profit
largely based in DC focused on clean
energy and and climate policy nuclear is
a central Senate of what we work on but
not everything that we work on and then
he mentioned my role at U.S nuclear
Industry Council which is one of the
leading National trade associations
focused on on the growth of new nuclear
and in the American supply chain
um what is the easiest do I just say
next slide or is there a way for me to
toggle here or
I think Brandy's got it so yeah just say
next slide thanks Jeff thank you Brandi
really appreciate it
um to really underscore that point the
last two and a half years have been
particularly crazy
um there have been four very significant
climate bills that at every time that
they were enacted uh was the biggest
action Congress has taken
um in over a decade on on clean energy
and climate uh so we can even date back
uh prior uh at the at the end of the
Trump Administration and the end of the
previous Congress
um a big refresh of clean energy policy
got enacted into law known as the energy
Act of 2020 which effectively was a
reorientation of federal programs
focused on on energy Innovation and
technology and and uh and uh you know
this was significant
um it was the largest emissions
reduction policy is since the energy Act
of 2007 or the 2000 uh 2005 or the 2007
tax deal that got done at the end of the
Bush Administration and uh and we at
that time thought it was going to
radically transform because the policy
landscape and ironically uh has changed
relevant to nuclear this is the the
first bill that really
codified and launched the advanced
reactor demonstration program a key
Federal public-private partnership
program that I think I discussed with
you all the last time I was here
um and uh and really like modernized the
does focused on clean energy and climate
moving forward
uh as we moved into the bite
Administration being sworn in and a very
narrow Congress at the beginning of of
this Congress last year uh one of the
the biggest policy um things that was
accomplished here was the bipartisan
infrastructure Bill also known as the
infrastructure investment in jobs act uh
and this bill funded those promises that
the energy Act made ultimately so over
62 billion dollars was given to the
Department of energy to accelerate these
Key moonshot Programs like ardp and
other key research programs that have
now been modernized and focused on kind
of the energy and climate challenges our
nation faces
um really unprecedented this was
multiple years of funding in the space
so in the case of the advanced reactor
demonstration program
uh the office of nuclear energy got over
2.5 uh billion dollars so basically what
was needed to demonstrate the x-energy
and the Terra power reactor for the
first five years of funding for it which
is pretty crazy you know in in DC you
know I've been in DC almost uh almost 18
years now everyone wants forward
Appropriations right everyone would love
to have the certainty of knowing that
their resources are available for the
next three or four years fiscal years
and we used to laugh at folks when they
would would uh
um you know state that as their priority
and and uh the infrastructure Bill
ironically did do that um and it was
kind of a once in a
um in a long time I don't want to say
once in a generation because as I
mentioned all these things seem to
continue to to move the the Overton
window for us but uh um that injection
of resources in the department
um significant
and then we've had an influx of activity
over the last couple months
um so uh there was a big focus on what
was often called that the China
competitiveness bill
um the America competes the bill
ultimately it was called the chips plus
bill
um uh which invest in U.S semiconductor
R D
um and a variety of other clean injury
things the reason I bring this up is
there was a concerted program in there
to focus on coal to nuclear switching
and a lot of financial support for
Licensing in that space and potential
um uh you know government public private
Partnerships
um to to specifically
um build new nuclear at uh Brownfield
sites so so suitable sites like a former
coal plant or coal former gas plant or a
formal industrial facility and I think
we've seen in a lot of states in a
particularly you know our neighbors to
the West West Virginia is looking at
this a lot right though West Virginia
just recently eliminated their Nuclear
Ban and is putting money behind just
kind of switch on that front
and then the bill that got the most
attention overall was uh was the big
Democratic reconciliation Bill known as
the inflection and inflation reduction
act that was signed into law uh just a
couple weeks ago and effectively put
into place three billion dollars of
federal tax incentives over the next
decade
um and uh and it did a handful of other
really important things for for nuclear
as well
um including put some policies in place
to prevent the premature closer closure
of existing reactors put a significant
down payment in programs to give us our
next generation of nuclear fuels
um and uh and put into place a variety
of uh
um programs that potentially could be
Partnerships for uh industrial users and
nuclear um for the use of processed heat
so
um you know my big Point here is the
landscape has changed radically over the
last two and a half years from a federal
policy standpoint in Congress on a
bipartisan basis has made a strong
statement in each of these things the
nuclear is a a significant part of the U
of the US's Future Energy policy or
energy our Energy Future as a whole and
uh and and that's kind of been
reiterated across these big bills uh
next slide please
[Music]
uh and this was on top of what we
thought at the time was a lot of
momentum as well so in 27 to 2019 there
were some signature bills on reforming
permitting at the NRC
um a less robust tax credit
um was was provided uh
um in a in a big tax bill there in in
2018 and then uh you know enhancing a
doe so I don't spend too much time on
this but uh it really just kind of
underscores the point that like Congress
every year is looking for new things it
can do to bolster domestic nuclear and
and grow
um the future of nuclear in this country
next slide please
foreign so what is what are those big
four bills that I showed in that second
slide really mean uh We've basically
done the gamut of federal policy here it
was considered authorizing policy so Key
Program direction to the Department of
energy and to the NRC folks like that
have been enacted in all these Clean
Energy Technologies as I mentioned
significant money has been given to the
department for cost shares and
government Partnerships in this space
and now there's tax incentives as well
and so as clear path looks that
technology commercialization and
Technology Innovation we see like
significantly you know three big pieces
of the puzzle across the finish line
there's government certainty and law
there's multi-year funding to ensure
these projects are successful and then
there's a market signal essentially a a
incentive in place to help make initial
projects first of a kind to the nth of a
Kind projects that often are uh more
expensive than their their later
commercial uh really awesome and frankly
making these things I think pencil out
for a lot of utilities and I know in our
conversations with you know investors
and Utilities in the country it's made a
lot of folks rethink their their 10-year
plans and
um and in particular in the case of ccos
and nuclear I think a lot more thought
uh being put into how they Factor those
Technologies into their irps
uh next slide
what does that mean granularly for
nuclear here here is kind of the mix of
of uh items uh you know the the energy
act had these these big pushes and
directions doe I mentioned the RDP
funding there was also a six billion
dollar program for existing nuclear in
the infrastructure bill
um the chip spill I mentioned the fish
in for the future the stuff focused on
fossil closure communities there was
also investments in uh the nuclear
University Research infrastructure as
well
um and a big push on on fusion and then
as you can see in this last bucket the
the tax bill I'm mentioning that the
bill that just was enacted in the law
law over the last uh a couple weeks it
was more money for nuclear fuels it was
a tax incentive for new nuclear moving
forward a tax incentive to preserve
um existing nuclear in this country a
new tax credit for the production of
hydrogen which is particularly
interesting for for a nuclear and then
uh a lot of uh other government
financing programs like an enhancements
to the loan guarantee program that could
lower the cost of capital
um and an additional um you know cashier
Partnerships that can come to fruition
next slide
and actually what about before I
transition over there I should stop here
and see if there's any questions
um
um because I know I just kind of talked
about a lot of what was been happening
in DC over the last two and a half years
in three minutes or eight minutes maybe
any questions
okay I think
I think well given um you know where
your all work is focused on and I
thought it was important to maybe do a
couple uh double clicks or to get a
little deeper on a few of these things
that I think are really key to to new
nuclear moving forward so prior to this
bill getting enacted into law a couple
weeks ago nuclear had a a pretty minor
tax incentive in place that would did
not really compare to wind and solar and
other Technologies what this bill does
do is create a new clean electricity
production credit and investment credit
that largely puts cleantech on the same
same playing field so the incentive is
largely the same for wind solar nuclear
and you know um and carbon capture with
ccos if they were to utilize this this
credit hydropower as well for example
um and this is really the first time in
our history that nuclear has been on it
on an even playing field and this spread
it is in place for at least the next
decade and most likely longer so the way
that they constructed this it either
expires in 10 years or at a certain
emission reduction level for National
emissions uh one that I'll just tell you
is not in in the next 10 years where the
US is not going to meet that emission
Target this is quite as likely around
for the next 15 to 20 years and so as
people as utilities as state governments
as uh as the side decision makers are
looking at oh should should I have
confidence that these policies were in
place and should be factored in in our
calculus of what we do uh as we make
decisions on on potentially moving
forward with your nuclear I think there
should be confidence that this is either
tax incentive like for the production of
clean electricity from a future nuclear
um that will be around for the
foreseeable future and uh and I lay a
little bit of the the economic Dynamics
here it can be as high as a 50 invest
investment tax credit
um and uh and uh can get up to you know
3.2 cents uh per kilowatt hour on the
production credit side
um one of the kind of uh extra strings
that were attached to these these tax
credits and this most recent bill was a
need for domestic content
um uh a boosting for for project
proponents that are in community and
energy communities
um and also some requirements on on
Labor uh nuclear is super fortunate in
that case like they really meet most of
these characterizations just by the
nature of the domestic industry some
industries that will have some problems
are solar for example that do have
domestic content um struggles things
along those lines as a result of our
Reliance on
on
minerals for uh for their construction
uh from overseas in particular uh China
and this is on the the content of the
generation project not the fuel the fuel
is a little more of a complicated issue
as I know you all know
um but uh I feel good that you know
these these incentives are going to be
available for for nuclear for for a long
time
next
uh the fuel issue is is uh is a critical
one a lot of this next generation of
advanced reactors need something called
High assay low enriched uranium
um you know over the last uh couple
fiscal years uh Congress has has uh
allocated
um you know almost almost 800 million
dollars to a program to to catalyze a
domestic industry here I think it's a
long-term fuel security and the need to
to get our nuclear fuel
um Supply
um not from competitors like Russia this
is going to be really important
um the 700 million dollars it was in the
recent bill that would appropriate at
the doe I think actually puts this
program actually on a chance towards
viability
um it makes the annual victims demands
on it
um not as steep and so I you know I
think it does put it in a position to be
successful
um and you know I know a lot of the the
nuclear uh uh companies in this country
and in there in the state of Virginia
are looking at this program as a way to
help accelerate commercialization of
advanced nuclear fuels in this country
any questions on the the fuel side
[Music]
or comments
all right next slide please
uh I mentioned kind of the on the tax
credit side the the department of
Energy's Loan program got a bunch of
different uh ability and resources in
place this gives you just a little bit
of an overview of the the interest in
nuclear right now which I think is is
really really high
um opio did make its first kind of
announcement recently with whole Tech a
small modular reactor
um uh on a small modular reactor
manufacturing facility so they announced
plans potentially build four projects in
the Northeast over over the next 10 to
15 years and lpo is going to help them
Finance their their manufacturer
manufacturing facility in New Jersey
that was the kind of the First new
nuclear announcement that had been made
at olpo
um they did help the Georgia reactors
and Vogel but uh
um you know I think is a really exciting
step to show that there's significant
you know Market interest in in the stuff
and that some of the new advanced actor
developers are are looking for these uh
um innovative ways to finance their
projects Shaw who came over from
from the financial sector to run lpo and
this is probably one of the most uh
publicly visible members of the Biden
Department of energy leads this program
and and he's he's talked about this
pretty uh publicly that um there's a lot
of folks that are in before him
evaluating uh possible deals
um yeah their tracker shows 77 total
applications that are under some level
of review in the nuclear space which is
really incredible because a decade ago
that's that that certainly wasn't the
case
um and they're at the point where
they're thinking oh they needed
additional flexibility when Congress
acted um to allow them to potentially
move forward on on a wave of new
projects over over the next couple years
um I think the other thing that is is
interesting is that they did get some
authority to finance some kind of
repowering or repurposing energy
infrastructure as well which I do think
could be be helpful for example for a
cold and nuclear switch or something
along those lines as well so I
definitely think it's a it's important
to watch the balloon program office
particularly do we kind of out for the
cost share stuff that happens at the
office of nuclear energy and outside of
the kind of tax uh Provisions that are
that are in law
um uh Federal incentives for new nuclear
next slide please
uh I did want to just underscore a
little bit um some of the hydrogen stuff
I think we're going to share these
slides with everyone so I'm not going to
walk through all of it but it's pretty
crazy Congress has put up throwing a ton
of money behind hydrogen opportunities
recently as well eight billion dollars
for the doe to allocate to build
Regional hydrogen hubs I know there are
proposals in this region for kind of a
regional Hub and nuclear does have some
potential on that and that's to play a
significant part in hydrogen production
in this country and there are new tax
incentives in place as well to
incentivize the production of hydrogen
as folks see immense potential for it in
a low-carbon fuels
um and so I I did want to flag the
hydrogen stuff since there is a lot of
nuclear industry uh interest in in
utilizing nuclear to produce that low
carbon fuels next slide please
foreign
these are just a little bit of the
Dynamics of of the hydrogen credit as a
whole again a scenario where you can get
a 30 ITC for for a facility to produce
hydrogen
um you could uh combine the hydrogen
credit with the clean electricity credit
that I had uh
um had mentioned earlier in my
conversation you can't with things like
45j and 45 q but uh another area where
there's a there's a robust tax instead
of in place that could be used to to
advance a new nuclear project depending
on what the use case for that project is
foreign
so what does that mean for for the next
Congress I mentioned there was a ton
that occurred uh over frankly the last
four and a half years but particularly
the last two and a half years and so
your clear path works on on the clean
energy and climate space and so I
thought it might be helpful to give you
a little bit of a forecast of what we're
expecting Congress to focus on
um over the next two years and and how
that might it might impact the nuclear
picture next slide please
uh one I wanted to write said I think
what does make make it very clear
all this policy coming forth it is now
in the hands of Industry to move forward
and start building stuff and so I'm
gonna show a couple things here that I
think uh share with the the Roma robust
private sector uh advancement that's
happening in the industry and I think
that's what we're going to be focused on
a lot over the next two years it's going
to be significant Milestones hit by
companies who are both developing new
reactors and developing
um you know fuel fuel facilities as well
one of the central kind of government
programs that are coming into place is I
mentioned the advanced reactor
demonstration program it's a it's a cost
share program with the Department of
energy
um ultimately the two two winners of
that competition who are building uh the
their commercial scale projects um with
the 50 50 cash or Terra power and their
first product's gonna be in Wyoming and
they're
um and X energy and their high
temperature gas reactor in Washington
state all progressing well um in the
process
um site selection
um getting uh you know together for the
abandoned and starting construction
uh starting to move forward in the NRC
process so there are two companies in
particular two of many but two companies
who you know have doe backing to
commercially demonstrate in in the next
you know by the end of this decade
targeting kind of the roughly that 2027
period
um but fortunately it's not just those
two it's not just two companies that had
to win big big cocktail agreements so
the next slide I'll show a little more
there
[Music]
um
uh this just gives you a little bit more
overview of those two two particular
projects we can skip ahead to the next
next slide
um this is just our very basic estimate
of uh of the the nuclear footprint kind
of across the country at the moment uh
projects that have been announced
companies that have significant presence
in places
um across the country
um this is really what the focus mostly
of a focus on on just on the reactor
side but just to show you like all the
things that are popping up including in
the research reactor space uh next slide
please
uh in in this future is now
um here are a list of commercial reactor
projects that are that are advancing
forward all targeting kind of over the
course of the next 10 years all within
that time frame of where some of these
policies are in place and as you can see
you know it's not just Terror power of
NX energy it's it's folks like ji Itachi
it's uh it's whole Tech it's oklo which
is a micro reactor design new scale
building the project in in Idaho to
provide Power in Utah all these folks
are are you know underway and moving
forward on projects with the project
delivery timelines kind of within the
next uh five to eight years
next slide
um and it's also happening on on the
research reactor side as well as
significant and both from
um domestic supply chain uh benefits uh
human personnel and training things
along those lines and so a couple
exciting uh you know Public public uh
and uh private Partnerships
um in Partnerships with the dod to the
new reactor types forward in this time
frame as well
next slide
what does that mean for for congress
here you know as I said I think now is
the time for industry to start moving
forward I think we're going to see an
influx of private sector threat um
Milestones over the next couple of years
but Congress will still be working on on
on nuclear policy for sure I think one
thing has become very clear there are
strong bipartisan support in in the
Congress regardless of the political
makeup of uh of government uh to support
um nuclear
um you know I think just as purely clear
past perspective and I think it's also
the general
um uh
current consensus at least with the with
current polling and things along those
lines it's likely that Republicans will
take the majority in the house I think a
lot more in question in the Senate
um I think I I bring this up because uh
clean energy is going to still be a big
part of a republican house majority's
plan this thing I show on I'm showing on
the right which is uh Kevin McCarthy's
energy climate conservation task force
our kind of pillars that they see is
kind of the key tenets of things that
they're going to be focusing on should
they take the majority uh I mention it
largely because uh you know the things
like let America build
um beating China and competing on the
international frame
um and energy Innovation all fit in the
nuclear bucket and when they roll out
these these pillars and such frankly
there was a signature nuclear talking
point or piece in every single one of
those buckets and so I think it's a
signal to show if Republicans do take
the majority in the house uh nuclear is
going to be kind of in the Forefront of
their their policy agenda as well where
we've seen in new regardless of what
happens in the Senate there's strong
bipartisan support for nuclear there as
well next slide please
[Music]
uh with all this money Federal money
that's getting their own at clean energy
uh what are kind of some of the next
challenges they're going to bring
forward we see the the landscape that
the regulatory supply chain and
permitting things are going to be a huge
huge blocker and I show this chart
largely to show
um you know it reflects what it would
take to actually build new generation in
this country uh that reflects the
modeling that that bringing the
administration and many are saying this
new these new policies like the tax
incentives are going to bring about uh
we have to radically change how we build
things in this country
um and break through kind of Permitting
issues and things along those lines to
have any shot of this exponential growth
uh and I show this to show that like
just the the Practical feasibility of of
doing this like means the status quo is
not not feasible which is why I think
we're going to see a lot of focus in
from Congress on on permitting as a
whole there's been a lot of political
back and forth in Washington about this
over over the over recent day days and
her Mansion as a proposal that he
thought he had an agreement on they
ultimately had to yank it I think this
isn't going to be a conversation that
continues well into the next couple
years especially as companies try to
utilize some of these Financial
incentives the federal government has
put in place and hit some walls with
some some federal permitting challenges
next slide
um there are other bills out there that
are focused on on the international
picture as well this is uh this is a
legislation introduced by Joe manchin
who I think everyone knows and Jim risch
who's the top Republican on the Foreign
Affairs committee uh it's about to get a
house companion as well here in the next
week or so before folks leave town
really focused on the global market I
think something that we've seen that is
really particularly relevant to nuclear
is given the the energy scarcity issues
in Europe and their Reliance on on
Russian gas obviously the US is
mobilizing quickly to help try to
provide U.S gas supplies for that but uh
I've been hearing from from vendors
particularly the members of us Nick the
the some of these key developers that I
mentioned earlier that the interests
from the Europeans in particular
um and it really folks across the globe
as they see like this concerning issue
where there's a political geopolitical
Dynamic that radically turns their
energy picture they want to take things
in their own hands and so I think you're
going to see more efforts from the
Congress to try to um push U.S
Technologies abroad I think that's
particularly important for for folks who
are examining you know the possibility
of building new nuclear because it means
more customers right and if there's a if
there's a larger order book then that's
beneficial to U.S supply chains
particularly if they're us reactor
developers and you know you're sharing a
little bit of the the learnings of
building these new projects abroad I
think to to get the real cost declines
of deploying these technology and
driving them down learning by doing you
know having global international
partners that are going to do this as
well like I help I think helps
accelerate that
uh next slide please
uh and then there's a big focus on on
the NRC uh moving forward so
um I think you know the NRC is working
to modernize and try to to be ready for
this influx of of new designs that are
coming before it um the inner self
admits it expects 10 at least 10 new
reactor applications uh by 2026 uh
they're not prepared to take those on at
this point and it's why you know
chairman Hanson has taken
um a really forward uh looking step into
wanting to make more hires at the NRC
prepare for that future they need to do
more and I think Congress is going to
try to force them to do more I think the
key tenets of you know new policies in
this space will be Do no harm we don't
want to delay new reactor designs going
through the process but we do want to
make the regulatory process more Nimble
here to scale new technologies abroad
and and I think we we have a five person
commission for for at least four
Commissioners who are are committed to
seeing that come to fruition
uh next slide
and so yeah I think uh that was uh what
I wanted to touch on I'm happy to go
back to any of these I had a little more
of the details of the recent statutes
I'm happy to talk political forecasting
a little bit too if that's helpful or
whatever uh is is the best use of your
all-time and most helpful uh with giving
the jobs you guys have there and I
really appreciate everyone's time and
Tom thanks again and Brandi thank you
for the opportunity to uh to present to
you all
thanks Jeremy that was quite a really
helpful
um I know I have a couple questions but
does anybody have one before April
hi Jeremy
um my question for you what do you think
is our biggest challenge in the new
Congress
in the new Congress particularly for
nuclear policy yes
um
the the general gridlock in this country
as a whole
um I do think divided government is
going to be be difficult and I think
there's going to be a lot of house for
Senate Dynamics
um a lot of this big policy that got
done over the last two years largely was
was generated in the Senate and forced
upon the house the infrastructure bill
you know they held out for a long time
and ultimately the president put
pressure in and they move forward and
Advance the bill
um you know the inflation reduction Act
was largely Senate drafted as well I
think there's going to be a lot of more
house senate tensions there and so I
think there's an area where there's
going to be an agreement
um I also would say that I think that
the the money spigot is not going to be
flowing quite as as broadly as well
right like I think uh inflation I think
Republicans taking control of the house
as a whole like we should not expect to
see 62 million dollars thrown at the
department energy again and regardless
of what the challenges are before us I
think we're going to see more fiscal
restraint there and listen
nuclear costs money and the government
has a federal government has a central
role in Partnerships and things along
those lines and so I would just hedge uh
any expectations that we're going to see
um significant increases in funding and
key key programming things I think those
are two big challenges
thank you
so Jeremy um with uh
both the incentives that are now
available to all clean technology I
think you played it out really well with
the um piece on hydrogen I think there's
also you know you can translate the
incentives to uh processed steam as well
it
warrants itself I think to new business
models in the nuclear space generation
models and potentially
it seems to me that there's going to be
new
entrance I mean we're already seeing a
lot of you know we've had a lot of
develop you know developing and let's
call them startup companies that are had
already entered the space I have you all
started to see or hear from
you know new players that are interested
in nuclear that may you know whether
they're even in the energy space or
they're in the industrial uh industrial
space or frankly just I I have a feeling
we're going to start seeing private
equity and investors and all sorts of
people but have you started hearing from
others that you would you know are not
traditionally in the in the nuclear
energy field yeah
to your last point we're seeing an
influx of of increased interest in the
financial sector I've gone up to New
York a couple times this year to do
these type of presentations for kind of
traditional Finance folks who frankly
had ruled out nuclear for a long time
and also they're like oh we need to be
paying way more attention to be in front
of us because I think there's a huge
financial opportunity so I think that's
one one one key area where things are
changing and I think you know some of
the big financial institutions have a
lot of interest in the space now because
they see a little more you know policy
certainty a little more uh Trends where
the financial sector is going and I see
where the global Market's going
as you think about different ways uh
different financing models different
project Partners uh definitely a point
to two that I think are are really
indicative they're they're they're more
big you know hegemons in these in these
spaces but I think we're going to see
more and more of it uh X energy the high
temperature gas reactor
um company that I that I mentioned
earlier in my presentation they were got
an award from the doe for the advanced
reactor demonstration program they
recently announced an mou with uh Dow
Chemical uh to build one of their high
temperature gas reactors in Louisiana at
the end of the Decades looking at 28 20
29 28 29
um to use the heat from the high
temperature gas reactor to decarbonize
their their their processes and chemical
chemical production I'm seeing a ton of
interest from heavy industry as a whole
opportunities uh interest from Mining
and micro reactors as well
um some of the big uh you know
um multinational mining organization or
company these are kind of explore that
both here in the U.S and in for Canadian
deployment so those are kind of some new
opportunities that are out there and
then the tech space I think is
interesting as well and Google is one
who's walk the plank that's a little bit
more and they're they're low carbon
commitments they want to Source 24 7
power
um and you know they've done a lot of
power purchase agreements with with wind
and solar companies but they recognize
there's limitations there I think
there's a lot of interest from folks
like Google
um and uh who could use it for data
centers Microsoft uh for you know cloud
or I guess in their case azer management
Amazon
for microreactors and small modular
reactors because they can Source
um zero emission power 24 7
um from from these Technologies I think
they're going to be the first buyers but
I think they're lining up to uh to be
more of the second third fourth buyers
which is exciting because we've already
seen a bunch of first buyers uh really
get very and the government put some
support behind some of those first of a
Kind projects
yeah I don't know
if everybody here is aware of it there
if you get a chance go look at what um
Talon energy has done with their
Susquehanna nuclear plant up in
Pennsylvania they actually have a data
center that is essentially almost inside
the fence line per se but they're but
they're behind the meter when they're
selling electricity directly to the to
the data center from their existing
nuclear plant so it's an interesting
interesting model that they've set up
there as well
um so I guess the other question I had
Jeremy and I don't know how much clear
path was looking at this she kind of
talked a little bit about it with the
NRC
the just the regulatory review
challenges that they're going to have
but I think resourcing across the street
is going to be well it already is a
challenge
um so I think one of the things at least
uh that is worth I think our our group
and I know the the working group that
April's going to talk about is looking
at this but also it's going to take a
coordinated effort is is how do we find
the workforce and that's across the
Spectrum right it's the skilled labor
it's the construction Workforce it's in
it's the engineering Talent it's
everything
um because it's already there's already
a squeeze we're already looking at
everybody
um for resource setting it's just going
to get
um
it's a good challenge to have right but
I think that's going to be something
that there may need to be a coordinated
effort I don't know if you guys have
gotten into that as much because it's
not necessarily a policy fix it's more
industry coordination but yeah
I've made a couple or I've had a couple
meetings presentations such with a
couple universities that have been
interested in ramping up new nuclear
engineering programs because they see
the momentum in this space
um we're seeing a lot more on the
partnership in the in the The Building
Trades for example I think unions see
these As Cities and good paying long
lasting lasting jobs and so the The
Building Trades AFC AFL cios folks like
that are really wanting to to make early
Partnerships with some of these Advanced
reactor developers and and folks to line
that up tear power for example it was
really trying to to tap some of the the
uh the The Building Trades folks who are
doing work in Georgia and hopefully
transition them from Georgia to to
Wyoming to have kind of the learnings
and have those people but it's going to
be a big issue right like you know as
these as more projects pop up like we
can't afford to have all the workforce
uh you know the modern day Workforce
saturated one or two projects uh or
plugging everyone down in Georgia at the
moment right and uh and so as we think
about uh about the nuclear future you
know I think it's it's engineering it's
it's trade jobs and and I think you know
some forward-leaning states are trying
to already put some some financial
assistance and and programs in place to
do that I know for example
I did a West Virginia manufacturers
Association event recently in in
Wheeling and and they're looking at um
kind of state level trade support to do
training
you know West Virginia is ready to to
attract one of these new new reactor
developers and so I think States would
be would be wise to do some of those
things and make some forward-leaning
Investments that I think are good in
their their stage job growth and and
ultimately prepare for maybe future
Investments and throughout the nuclear
industry
all right
other questions
I noticed that you put the VTR on your
your chart what what is your thought
about uh
I mean obviously there needs to be a
change of uh change of good within the
Congress to fund that what what's your
thoughts on that
yeah it's
interesting because two years ago the
VTR was one of like four or five
different multi-billion dollar nuclear
projects that are out there I think a
benefit of uh of the past two and a half
years you know I mentioned the 2.5
billion that went into ardp that takes a
major annual spending pressure off at
any
Instagram
[Music]
no worries God
uh it's also on the uh the fuel side is
uh as well uh you know the 700 million
that was given on Halo I mean I think
that's going to ultimately be a multiple
billion dollar program moving forward
but you know that influx of resources
does make that uh over the next five
years a 200 mil ask rather than uh than
a 400 500 million the reason I bring
that up is to April's question earlier
what are going to be some challenges in
the new Congress and his budget's not
going to go up 2x every fiscal year in
in divided government so I think that's
one thing and
um you know there's less competition
from these big infrastructure projects I
do think it's incumbent on the doe to to
rethink this project a little bit and
how they're going to move forward
um the design is very similar to The
Terror power designs getting built in
Wyoming they need to take some of those
learnings from that to I think both
lower costs and uh and factor in kind of
project planning things along those
lines so I think the BTR are still a
really important National Asset that we
do need over in the to really see
Advanced nuclear scale up in the long
term and do fuels testing and materials
testing I do think we have a longer burn
on that now than it was originally
anticipated two or three years ago
um uh and and seeing it come to fruition
but I'm so optimistic about it um if doe
does respond to some of the
Congressional criticisms on its initial
project design
um
anything else
all right well Jeremy thank you for uh
spending the time with us um this was
really really helpful we always
appreciate your your Insight and
um I'm sure we'll we'll have you back
again as we continue to just pile up all
the positive legislation awesome good
good good well yeah hopefully I can see
you uh all in person sometime I really
appreciate the opportunity please don't
hesitate to reach out and shoot me an
email I don't know the answer I'll get
you in touch with someone who does
um but I want to be the resource for you
all like I think you guys are doing
extremely important work and I really
appreciate your uh the invitation and
the partnership
and all right all right well thank you I
think so
and Brandon you said you are going to
distribute those slides to us yeah
they'll be posted on the vaniko webpage
[Music]
thanks Jeremy
uh so Larry are you going to provide us
the update on the on the energy plan yes
uh to be interrupted as it will be
published on Monday which means I don't
have too much
office has been their final review
making their final decisions
so in terms of nuclear certainly you
could be an assessment or nuclear
generation of the industry I can't say
what specific policy as well
it will come up on that I'm sure we'll
start to get into this group as soon as
it's available
yeah um I know yeah I know we're
planning on on circulating it
um I think what we had talked about or
Brandi and I talked about yesterday is
that our
Q4 meeting
um we'll have hopefully we can do it
like a little bit of a deeper dive with
um
on on the plan itself
um what's the details and stuff are out
there we can answer questions
yeah absolutely whatever policy
recommendations provided that we can
focus on any future aspects
so everybody stay tuned for Mondays for
release
uh April
um someone I can tell you on our work
we have to focused with each other as
Administration um
good conversations and we have supplied
some comments for the energy
with industry so we have done that so
hopefully on Monday we will all be
pleasantly surprised
um what's in there so I'm looking
forward to Monday
um uh on the Hub
we were
close to I thought wrapping everything
up on the proposal but industry has come
back to the universities and provided
some more feedback so right now we are
advising of the proposal for
um with the feedback that we received so
hopefully we'll have that back I talked
to the writer on the way down here have
that back next week and so we give that
to the working group again but that you
will see more action regarding
um
Hub development
later this morning that's what's going
on there
and then on the working group for HB 94
we had
a meeting on July 11th with the group
I think right now the working group is
around 30 people we've gotten kind of
popular several people have wanted to
get involved we have a document out of
that meeting
that is right now is out for comment for
the working group members and we'll be
meeting again here this fall to discuss
the priorities but basically they focus
it down to four buckets Economic
Development deployment Workforce supply
chain nothing anybody else would be
surprised about but we had some really
good conversation Dr Katie Huff is
assistant Secretary of Department
community in terms of nuclear energy she
spoke to the group
um I think we had a really good
conversation and I'm pretty excited some
things that will be happening
no I don't think so I think
um
I think everyone or most everybody
uh here has Representatives on the
working group that are providing
providing input so if you have
um you know specific questions on the
draft and the um notes that come out I
would encourage you to touch base with
um with your folks on that
um I think that was really it was a
really good kickoff meeting we had some
great dialogue anywhere there
[Music]
it was a good conversation it was a good
conversation so
um I think that's moving ahead very well
the um one thing I would say about the
energy plan
um again not knowing what's in it but um
I will say that contrast between the
last round when we did this and this
time is the Outreach from two times last
two times uh the uh from Virginia energy
and the governor's office just for for
information and input on
um
you know nuclear energy has been uh
100 improved
there's been a lot more dialogue um I
know with with April uh this time around
which is which is great I think that's
an indication of
um you know kind of the changing um
priorities so not knowing what's going
to be in it um but I think it's safe to
assume that nuclear is going to have a
key place in there it's going to be
talked about as opposed to last time
where it wasn't even mentioned
um
and uh that's a good thing what we I
would suggest
um that we do April's uh are you do you
want to talk about are you planning to
do kind of a
um
press release
yeah in in the past what we've always
done is after the energy plan
has been put out we've provided a letter
between uh
chairman who usually has always signed
off to the letter as well just
um
commenting on energy plan in the past
has been comments
um what we thought should be included
this year we may be doing the same thing
but we'll hopefully we may also be
insane some positive things as well
um and then
um we will likely put out some sort of
release or something in the communities
as well
so I think so we'll so we'll do that
again
um and yeah you know we have to wait to
see what's what all is announced and
what's in it on Monday but I know v-neck
I'll take the take the lead on that
um and then like we said we'll have have
a briefing at that
other questions on those those updates
or any of those areas
all right
um we're gonna hold off on the approval
of the minutes
um since we don't have a quorum but they
are included here
um in your packet
um so just you know take a look at those
um we will entertain if there's any
corrections or changes that need to be
made we can energy and those at the next
meeting and approved
Brandi has also gone ahead the next you
know our next big task will be that
annual report so you have a copy here
Brandi has gone and updated some of the
things you'll see um there's a little
update to the look
um of it
what I would ask is did have we sent out
the Strat electronically yet okay
um so after the meeting there's some
areas that Brandy's already highlighted
here that need to be updated
specifically what I would call
everybody's attention to is that
um
the portion that's essentially updates
on activities from the past year there's
highlighted areas so everybody take a
look at
um
the sections there these are updates
from last year and please send Brandy
updates about your specific
organizations
um so we can get that proportion
um
updated and then I would also ask if we
can send this out electronically it may
be good for just everybody to take a
look at this
um
before the next meeting and we can uh
get kind of a
pre-final draft that we can then review
and approve
at the Q4 meeting that works your
deadline for the annual report as you
all remember is November 15th right so
obviously we should probably try and
schedule something right that was going
to be that was going to be my suggestion
is that we send out a doodle poll and
look for some time I would say in early
November so that we can
um review An approved uh annual report
for the before the deadline and now kind
of wrap up our our meetings for the year
so I think yeah I think what makes sense
is we'll send out kind of a poll for the
first two weeks of of November everybody
can get away in but we will need to have
a quorum so
um to vote on all these things so we'll
want to make sure we have some buffer
there in case we
have some folks that have conflicts at
the last minute
um and then you also have the asset
inventory again I think we're doing a
pretty good job of keeping this up to
date but if you see things
um that need to be that need to be
changed
please get those get those to Randy
and then in terms of
uh news and member updates we've kind of
gone over the major stuff
um with uh Jeremy's briefing but uh I
will say
there if you haven't been you know had
time to go through the the inflation
reduction act
um or look at the key nuclear Provisions
there's some
it's a very significant piece of
legislation you just put it that way
forward
um for for new nuclear especially
um there's a couple of things that that
Jeremy didn't really touch on because
there's frankly a lot in there but I
think are important
um
the the tax credits can actually be
realized
um
by tax-exempt entities now so think of
that as public utilities or Municipal
Utilities that in in the past could not
um because they don't their tax exempt
right they couldn't take advantage well
they can now qualify for direct payments
so things like the investment tax credit
production tax credit could actually
just be turned into grants for those
projects
um I know that's that's not as big of a
deal
um here in Virginia because we've got uh
mostly investor owned utilities but
in other states and where the
development is
um there are some there's a set of
incentives for clean energy
Manufacturing
it doesn't specifically talk about
nuclear but there's some discussion
about how that may apply to
um you know expansion or new
infrastructure which I think is
significant for
um
for Virginia as well as we already have
a lot of infrastructure here but I think
expansion of that is as new nuclear goes
ahead
um is is going to be important so
anyway there's going to be more
processes that come with the
implementation of that
um of that law especially with the the
treasury Department and how they issue
their guidance of how the tax credits
will actually be
um governed and implemented that'll
that'll be important but I think as as
Jeremy talked about and we
we kind of discussed in the Q a this is
going to be potentially significant in
bringing in new players new interests
and I think with the edp's focus on kind
of the economic development aspect for
Virginia the working group it's already
kind of head of the game there's a lot
of opportunity for for the Commonwealth
there
um are there other updates that we have
from any of the any of the members they
wanted to bring up this time
are any other questions or or comments
or
okay
um
so I think we'll go to public comment
unless we have anything else
[Music]
um I want to start off obviously with
prayers for
you know all of Florida
and the people in the path of this
terrible storm
um and I'm also hopeful that the nuclear
power plant operators have done their
due diligence and their preparations as
well
um also I think from the last time I was
here uh the continued shelling and stuff
is still going on in Ukraine
uh the Biden Administration speaks about
35 million nuclear incidents uh foreign
dangers
um basically
uh
nuclear powered
carries exponential risk Way Beyond any
other energy source we have
um so every time I come here and I hear
about more nuclear my concerns are what
we already have and how we can protect
what we have
um
our aging plants probably need a lot
I'm always worried to hear that we want
to do more when I don't think we're
doing enough of what we already have
the container issues I think still need
to be looked at because here recently I
looked up on the high burnout fuel
um pilot program we started some years
ago up at northanna
and the report that came back basically
said a lot more research is needed
um the NRC has allowed this industry to
put the carton for the horse for years
they just kept using nuclear and keep
moving up the high burnout fuel so now
we have a really crazy mixture of fuel
uh spam fuel pools or loaded to the brim
around the country
um
if one of those has a leak or drain out
we're going to deal with something
catastrophic
um so really the car is being put before
the force began to hear more nuclear
more nuclear
uh the Biden Administration also
is now
now the they're going to fund
communities on educational nuclear waste
they said that uh
set on twos you will find up to eight
U.S entities or communities that are
interested in learning more about
storage of nuclear waste as the issue
has hampered the nuclear power industry
well sure it has
you know
New Mexico and Texas are not interested
and the idea of an interim
parking lot style nuclear waste dump
is really quite ridiculous
um
can't just do all this infrastructure
take it somewhere temporarily
temporarily will be a very long time
so ultimately they try to cite that
it'll be in an area where
you know people don't have a choice so I
think that's definitely a problem
and I also want to reiterate
that as it goes through clean energy
nuclear energy it's not clean the whole
nuclear fuel chain from uranium
processing turning it into yellow cake
and pellets in the whole nine yards and
then the back line of forever or the
back end of forever storage the canister
cast I mean I'd like to see a third
party do an actual
you know estimate of the CO2 emissions
um that are created
um by trying to do that
on top of that and I just noticed that
they finally published the 2021
um
we'll probably grow all over the country
but specifically I watched northanna and
they published that one for the public
to see last time it wasn't uh
and
it's
just pull that up
because it's not just about CO2
emissions it's also about radioactive
influence and gases and other nasties
that go into our environment and that's
just under routine regular operation
that's not under an accident or any
other problem
so basically an example I mean the
public is just
not really aware
of the Dynamics and the NRC obviously a
few years ago canceled the idea of
actually doing some research around
these communities to find out if cancer
is higher or what's actually in the
environment
it's just a short list of gaseous emit
the influence
Krypton 87 Krypton 88 Xenon 133 Xenon
133l
Xenon 135 scene on 135 amp Xenon 138
i-9131 iodine 133 magazines 54 Cobalt 58
iron 59 Cobalt 1665 strontium 89
strontium-90 milliganum 99
cesium-134 cesium 137 serial 141 Syria
m144 and then it goes on the list that
goes on and on how about seeing
strontium all these things that are also
the liquidy for us so all this stuff
isn't is going in the environment I
don't know how you consider it clean and
this is without an accident
the really nuclear energy is not really
a true clean energy what I'm excited
about actually
is the latest I was going to end with
that I want to jump to that
is the get to it
[Music]
very good at this obviously
yes
you know Coastal Virginia offshore wind
project I was at the general assembly
when we talked about this in the
beginning almost a decade ago very happy
to see this making ground
Hampton Roads 27 miles of the coast of
Virginia Coastline eight in the way the
Clean Energy Future of Virginia
basically as this goes on
[Music]
I'm not sure exactly when the completion
dates 2026
powered up to 660 000 Homes at Peak it
was on and on also piggy bank you know
that talk about how they can also
utilize it with hydrogen there's
definitely better ways in the nuclear as
it goes for energy and this is where we
really need to put our energy
money and time in
and put our other money in Innovation
and how we can keep the waste we've
created safe
and we need to start unloading the pools
because that's really where the biggest
danger is especially in areas where they
just extended the license of Diablo
Canyon one of the most dangerous places
to actually have a nuclear power plant
so good news on that front as it goes
for Virginia with true clean energy and
also doubling up with that also with
solar
um
it would be interesting to know uh when
we'll know more about that high burnout
fuel I mentioned also
um
and I did look up and I was able to find
that uh that Federal inspector at North
Anna he's not going to do jail time
because um he pleaded guilty of
falsifying the data at northanna I still
don't know the extent of how much and
what all he falsified
but obviously he did it for a while and
so he's kind of like just gonna probably
have to pay a fine but still can't find
anything on his sentences
and basically it said
[Music]
well I only a few specific instances of
falsification were described in court
documents
statement effects signed by Chrome State
stated that for years
for years
he allowed days or even weeks to pass
without entering northanna now this is
the senior NRC inspector that's at
northanna was
or documents go on to say that his
immediate supervisor told him on several
occasions to conduct physical
inspections more frequently but that
crime continued to avoid the plan
so you know I have a problem with the
confidence
when this kind of thing is going on and
this is not an isolated incident this is
something that happens on a routine
basis it's pretty scary
so hopefully this grew stop focusing on
more new more new and I think we're
going to throw billions and billions of
dollars at these new reactors when
finality
you're going to be going in the other
direction they're going to be going with
winds solar hydrogen
and definitely I think we we really need
to talk about conservation and how we
can do better at that because every time
that we're producing energy and we're
wasting it
um is terrible
I guess it's all I have to say
all right am I sure do anything else
thanks everybody