The US Department of Energy (DOE) has announced a new initiative to increase nuclear power output in the United States through uprates and restarts, the Utility Power Reactor Incremental Scaling Effort (UPRISE), which aims at extending reactor lifespans through license renewals, increasing the power output of existing reactors via power uprates and efficiency optimisation (including advanced fuel technologies), bringing dormant facilities back online, and completing stalled projects. It will also support research to streamline regulatory processes and advancements in nuclear fuels.
The UPRISE initiative aims to achieve 2.5 GW of additional nuclear capacity by 2027 and 5 GW of total additional nuclear capacity by 2029, in order to achieve the US Administration goal of expanding the US nuclear capacity from 100 GW today to 400 GW by 2050.
In addition, the US DOE has announced a USD1.9bn funding opportunity, the Speed to Power through Accelerated Reconductoring and other Key Advanced Transmission Technology Upgrades (SPARK) funding opportunity, aimed at accelerating required upgrades to the US power grid. Selected projects will focus on replacing existing power lines with higher‑capacity conductors ("reconductoring") and Advanced Transmission Technologies (ATTs) to improve the overall system reliability. The SPARK opportunity builds on the Grid Resilience and Innovation Partnerships (GRIP) Program, which provided up to USD10.5bn in competitive funding over five years.
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