Exclusive: Bezos fund backs nuclear initiative with $3.5M grant
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Jeff Bezos' climate philanthropy is staking efforts to pave the way for building at least 10 new U.S. nuclear reactors.
Why it matters: The $3.5 million grant to the nonprofit Nuclear Scaling Initiative envisions an "orderbook" that "brings together multiple buyers to commit to building the same reactor design."
- Avoiding one-off builds in favor of the approach "can reduce risk, lower costs ... and provide greater certainty for developers, suppliers, and public partners," the announcement states.
What's next: The NSI plans to use the Bezos Earth Fund money for a "coordinated, multi-party process among federal, state, and commercial partners."
- The group is a partnership between the Clean Air Task Force, the EFI Foundation, and the Nuclear Threat Initiative.
- Former Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz is among the NSI steering committee co-chairs.
The big picture: It's about avoiding cost overruns and logistical snafus that plagued past projects — and have made capital skittish since.
- For a major build-out, it's probably vital that new plants aren't essentially one-offs like in the past and instead share learning, economies of scale, long-term supplier commitments and more.
Catch up quick: It's one of several efforts to embrace standardizing designs and practices.
- The Trump administration last year launched a partnership with Westinghouse, Brookfield Asset Management and fuel provider Cameco that envisions building Westinghouse AP100 units at multiple sites.
- NSI executive director Stephen Comello tells Axios via email that the "orderbook" initiative is "directionally aligned" with that effort, but with a broader mandate that's untethered to any single consortium or tech.
- The National Association of State Energy Officials last year led a 12-state initiative to develop a coordinated orderbook strategy for advanced reactors.
The bottom line: "Our support for NSI is a targeted bet that smart coordination can unlock much larger public and private investment and turn this first reactor package into a model for many more," Bezos Earth Fund President and CEO Tom Taylor said in a statement.
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