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50-730: The design was developed as a U.S. project from 2005 to 2011, but did not proceed to a detailed design or licensing. The NGNP, as a nuclear power facility design, is closely coupled with the United States Department of Energy (DOE) Next Generation Nuclear Plant Project (NGNP Project). The NGNP Project included participation by the DOE, Idaho National Laboratory , and the commercial utilities and reactor designers consortium NGNP Industry Alliance. The United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) engaged in pre-licensing interactions with DOE and INL on technical and policy issues that could affect

100-477: A bid for Chooz A (in France). Called Franco-Américaine de Constructions Atomiques (Framatome), the original company consisted of four engineers, one from each of the parent companies. The original mission of the company was to act as a nuclear engineering firm and to develop a nuclear power plant that was to be identical to Westinghouse's existing product specifications. The first European plant of Westinghouse design

150-640: A change of direction.” Pre-licensing discussions regarding the NGNP were suspended in 2013 after the 2011 DOE decision not to proceed into the detailed design and license application phases of the NGNP Project and continuing efforts to advance the project ended unsuccessfully. DOE's decision cited impasses between DOE and the NGNP Industry Alliance in cost sharing arrangements for the public-private partnership required by Congress. The overall project faltered in

200-403: A discovery at Flamanville 3, about 400 large steel forgings manufactured by Framatome's Le Creusot Forge operation since 1965 were found to have carbon-content irregularities that weakened the steel. A widespread programme of French reactor checks was started involving a progressive programme of reactor shutdowns, continued over the winter high electricity demand period into 2017. In December 2016

250-538: A special share in Atmea. Framatome designs, manufactures, and installs components, fuel and instrumentation and control systems for nuclear power plants and offers a full range of reactor services. It is responsible for Flamanville 3 , Taishan 1 and 2 , and Hinkley Point C projects. In addition, Framatome conducts preliminary study for construction of six reactors at the Jaitapur Nuclear Power Project in

300-423: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This article about a power station is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . United States Department of Energy The United States Department of Energy ( DOE ) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government that oversees U.S. national energy policy and energy production , the research and development of nuclear power ,

350-523: Is a French nuclear reactor business. It is owned by Électricité de France (EDF) (80.5%) and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (19.5%). The company first formed in 1958 to license Westinghouse's pressurized water reactor (PWR) designs for use in France. Similar agreements had been put in place with other European countries, and this led to a 1962 contract for a complete plant at Chooz . Westinghouse sold its stake to engineering firm Creusot-Loire in 1976, and

400-504: Is focused on a particular energy challenge. Two of the eight hubs are included in the EERE budget and will focus on integrating smart materials, designs, and systems into buildings to better conserve energy and on designing and discovering new concepts and materials needed to convert solar energy into electricity. Another two hubs, included in the DOE Office of Science budget, were created to tackle

450-519: The Wall Street Journal characterised the problem as a "decades long coverup of manufacturing problems", with Framatome executives acknowledging that Le Creusot had been falsifying documents. Le Creusot Forge was out of operation from December 2015 to January 2018 while improvements to process controls, the quality management system, organisation and safety culture were made. In 2020 Framatome won an order to deliver reactor protection systems for

500-561: The Code of Federal Regulations , in Title 10: Energy : The official seal of the Department of Energy "includes a green shield bisected by a gold-colored lightning bolt, on which is emblazoned a gold-colored symbolic sun , atom , oil derrick , windmill , and dynamo . It is crested by the white head of an eagle , atop a white rope. Both appear on a blue field surrounded by concentric circles in which

550-669: The Department of Energy Organization Act , which established the Department of Energy. The new agency, which began operations on October 1, 1977, consolidated the Federal Energy Administration , the Energy Research and Development Administration , the Federal Power Commission , and programs of various other agencies. Former Secretary of Defense James Schlesinger , who served under Presidents Nixon and Ford during

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600-782: The Human Genome Project originating from a DOE initiative. The department is headed by the secretary of energy , who reports directly to the president of the United States and is a member of the Cabinet . The current secretary of energy is Jennifer Granholm , who has served in the position since February 2021. The department's headquarters are in southwestern Washington, D.C. , in the James V. Forrestal Building , with additional offices in Germantown, Maryland . In 1942, during World War II ,

650-477: The Vietnam War , was appointed as the first secretary. President Carter proposed the Department of Energy with the goal of promoting energy conservation and energy independence, and developing alternative sources of energy to reduce the use of fossil fuels . With international energy's future uncertain for America, Carter acted quickly to have the department come into action the first year of his presidency. This

700-568: The earth itself, and gold represents the creation of energy in the release of natural forces. By invoking this symbolism , the color scheme represents the Nation's commitment to meet its energy needs in a manner consistent with the preservation of the natural environment ." The Department of Energy operates a system of national laboratories and technical facilities for research and development, as follows: Other major DOE facilities include: Airstrip: The DOE/ NNSA has federal responsibility for

750-618: The AREVA prismatic core modular HTGR in a steam supply configuration for initial applications for co-generation of process heat and electricity. On October 17, 2011, the Secretary of Energy forwarded to Congress the report and recommendations of a Nuclear Energy Advisory Committee review of the NGNP Project EPAct Phase 1 activities. The Secretary's letter concluded that “…Given current fiscal constraints, competing priorities, projected cost of

800-671: The ATMEA1 reactor design. In 2009, Areva NP acquired 30% stake in the Mitsubishi Nuclear Fuel company. In 2009, Siemens sold its remaining shares in Areva NP. In 2018, after restructuring of Areva, Areva NP was sold to Électricité de France . Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (19.5%), and Assystem (5%) also became shareholders. As a result of the restructuring, Électricité de France and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries became equal shareholders of Atmea with 50% of shares both while Framatome owns

850-522: The Belgian Édouard-Jean Empain sold his 35% interest in Creusot-Loire to Paribas , a French government-linked banking group. A January 1982 company reorganization simultaneously strengthened French public and private control of the company by allowing Creusot-Loire to increase its share of the company while increasing CEA say in the running of the firm. In 2001, German company Siemens ' nuclear business

900-426: The DOE to issue loan guarantees to eligible projects that "avoid, reduce, or sequester air pollutants or anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases " and "employ new or significantly improved technologies as compared to technologies in service in the United States at the time the guarantee is issued". In loan guarantees, a conditional commitment requires to meet an equity commitment, as well as other conditions, before

950-454: The Department of Energy's handling of his case. Republican senators thought that an independent agency should be in charge of nuclear weapons and security issues, rather than the DOE. All but one of the 59 charges against Lee were eventually dropped because the investigation proved the plans the Chinese obtained could not have come from Lee. Lee filed suit and won a $ 1.6 million settlement against

1000-639: The Indian state of Maharashtra. Framatome provides EPR reactors , which is a third generation pressurised water reactor (PWR) design, and Kerena reactors , which is 1,250 MWe Generation III+ boiling water reactor (BWR) design, provisionally known as SWR-1000 . The Kerena design was developed from that of the Gundremmingen Nuclear Power Plant by Areva, with extensive German input and using operating experience from Generation II BWRs to simplify systems engineering. In 2016, following

1050-454: The NGNP. With an earlier focus on South Africa's pebble bed modular reactor (PBMR), in 2012, INL approved a design similar to Areva 's SC-HTGR (formerly "Antares") reactor as the chosen next-generation nuclear power plant VHTR to be deployed as a prototype by 2021. It was in competition with General Atomics ' gas turbine modular helium reactor and Westinghouse ' PBMR. The NGNP Industry Alliance agreed with this technology vendor decision of

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1100-471: The NRC's review and assessment of a series of NGNP white paper submittals that describe the approaches that DOE and INL propose to pursue in establishing the technical safety bases and criteria for licensing the NGNP prototype. NGNP pre-licensing interactions began in 2006. The DOE issued in 2007 a "request for expressions of interest from prospective industry teams" that want to provide design services for developing

1150-458: The Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy would be lowered to $ 696 million under the plan, down from $ 1.3 billion in fiscal year 2017. Overall, the department's energy and related programs would be cut by $ 1.9 billion. Energy Savings Performance Contracts (ESPCs) are contracts under which a contractor designs, constructs, and obtains the necessary financing for an energy savings project, and

1200-767: The United States started the Manhattan Project to develop the atomic bomb under the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers . After the war, in 1946, the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) was created to control the future of the project. The Atomic Energy Act of 1946 also created the framework for the first National Laboratories . Among other nuclear projects, the AEC produced fabricated uranium fuel cores at locations such as Fernald Feed Materials Production Center in Cincinnati, Ohio . The Energy Reorganization Act of 1974 split

1250-548: The challenges of devising advanced methods of energy storage and creating fuels directly from sunlight without the use of plants or microbes. Yet another hub was made to develop "smart" materials to allow the electrical grid to adapt and respond to changing conditions. In 2012, the DOE awarded $ 120 million to the Ames Laboratory to start a new EIH, the Critical Materials Institute, which will focus on improving

1300-463: The company became solely French owned. In 2001, Siemens sold its reactor business to Framatome. As part of a larger series of mergers with Cogema and Technicatome, Framatome became the Areva NP division of the new Areva . It changed its name back to Framatome in 2018 after a major investment by utility operator EDF . While originally a licensing and construction business, today Framatome supplies

1350-526: The department. In December 1999, the FBI was investigating how China obtained plans for a specific nuclear device. Wen Ho Lee was accused of stealing nuclear secrets from Los Alamos National Laboratory for the People's Republic of China . Federal officials, including then-Energy Secretary Bill Richardson , publicly named Lee as a suspect before he was charged with a crime. The U.S. Congress held hearings to investigate

1400-711: The design and licensing of the NGNP prototype from 2006 until suspension of the effort in 2013. NRC interactions regarding the NGNP were docketed on NRC Docket PROJ0748. DOE and INL established the NGNP Project as required by Congress in Subtitle C of Title VI of the Energy Policy Act of 2005. The mission of the NGNP Project was to develop, license, build, and operate a prototype modular high temperature gas-cooled reactor (HTGR) plant that would generate high-temperature process heat for use in hydrogen production and other energy-intensive industries while generating electric power at

1450-470: The design, testing and production of all nuclear weapons. NNSA in turn uses contractors to carry out its responsibilities at the following government owned sites: On May 7, 2009 President Barack Obama unveiled a $ 26.4 billion budget request for DOE for fiscal year (FY) 2010, including $ 2.3 billion for the DOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE). That budget aimed to substantially expand

1500-429: The development of the technologies and their link to our future capabilities. The lightning bolt represents the power of the natural forces from which energy is derived and the Nation's challenge in harnessing the forces." "The color scheme is derived from nature, symbolizing both the source of energy and the support of man's existence. The blue field represents air and water , green represents mineral resources and

1550-641: The entire reactor life-cycle, including design of the European Pressurized Reactor (EPR), construction, fuel management and many related tasks. Framatome was founded in 1958 by several companies of the French industrial giant Schneider Group along with Empain , Merlin Gérin , and the American Westinghouse , in order to license Westinghouse's pressurized water reactor (PWR) technology and develop

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1600-433: The federal agency makes payments over time to the contractor from the savings in the agency's utility bills. The contractor guarantees the energy improvements will generate savings, and after the contract ends, all continuing cost savings accrue to the federal agency. Energy Innovation Hubs are multi-disciplinary , meant to advance highly promising areas of energy science and technology from their early stages of research to

1650-572: The federal government and news agencies. The episode eventually led to the creation of the National Nuclear Security Administration , a semi-autonomous agency within the department. In 2001, American Solar Challenge was sponsored by the DOE and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory . After the 2005 race, the DOE discontinued its sponsorship. Title XVII of Energy Policy Act of 2005 authorizes

1700-662: The loan guarantee is completed. In September 2008, the DOE, the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI), the Institute of Nuclear Materials Management (INMM), and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) partnered to develop and launch the World Institute for Nuclear Security (WINS), an international non-governmental organization designed to provide a forum to share best practices in strengthening

1750-695: The mid-2010s due to a lack of pressing demand from industry and government stakeholders, and lack of funding commitment from both private and government sources. While the overall program made notable achievements in materials science and regulatory matters which saw further application, by 2015 the overall project was terminated without any fabrication or construction of a NGNP plant performed or planned. Reactor designer and nuclear steam supply system vendor Areva, now Framatome , continues to market their HTGR designs globally. As of 2021, no such designs are under construction or operating. This article about nuclear power and nuclear reactors for power generation

1800-498: The military's nuclear weapons program , nuclear reactor production for the United States Navy , energy-related research, and energy conservation . The DOE was created in 1977 in the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis . It sponsors more physical science research than any other U.S. federal agency, the majority of which is conducted through its system of National Laboratories . The DOE also directs research in genomics , with

1850-406: The name of the agency, in gold, appears on a green background." "The eagle represents the care in planning and the purposefulness of efforts required to respond to the Nation's increasing demands for energy . The sun , atom , oil derrick , windmill , and dynamo serve as representative technologies whose enhanced development can help meet these demands. The rope represents the cohesiveness in

1900-493: The point that the risk level will be low enough for industry to commercialize the technologies. The Consortium for Advanced Simulation of Light Water Reactors (CASL) was the first DOE Energy Innovation Hub established in July 2010, for the purpose of providing advanced modeling and simulation (M&S) solutions for commercial nuclear reactors. The 2009 DOE budget includes $ 280 million to fund eight Energy Innovation Hubs, each of which

1950-474: The president, who assumes the duties of the secretary in the secretary's absence. The department also has three under secretaries, each appointed by the president, who oversee the major areas of the department's work. The president also appoints seven officials with the rank of Assistant Secretary of Energy who have line management responsibility for major organizational elements of the department. The Energy Secretary assigns their functions and duties. Excerpt from

2000-542: The prototype, and the inability to reach agreement with industry on cost share, the Department will not proceed with the Phase 2 design activities at this time. The Project will continue to focus on high temperature reactor research and development activities, interactions with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to develop a licensing framework, and establishment of a public-private partnership until conditions warrant

2050-431: The responsibilities of the AEC into the new Nuclear Regulatory Commission , which was charged with regulating the nuclear power industry, and the Energy Research and Development Administration , which was assigned to manage the nuclear weapon, naval reactor, and energy development programs. The 1973 oil crisis called attention to the need to consolidate energy policy. In 1977, President Jimmy Carter signed into law

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2100-647: The same time. The hydrogen production aspects of the project were closely aligned with then- President George W. Bush 's goals for creating a US-led hydrogen economy . As stipulated by the Energy Policy Act of 2005 , pre-licensing activities for the NGNP prototype began with the development of the NGNP Licensing Strategy Report to Congress that was jointly issued by NRC and DOE in August 2008. Subsequent NRC interactions with DOE and INL centered primarily on

2150-508: The security and safety of nuclear and radioactive materials and facilities. The department announced a reorganization with new names of under secretaries in 2022. The department is under the control and supervision of a United States Secretary of Energy , a political appointee of the President of the United States . The Energy Secretary is assisted in managing the department by a United States Deputy Secretary of Energy , also appointed by

2200-513: The stimulus spending was in the form of grants and contracts. For fiscal year 2013, each of the operating units of the Department of Energy operated with the following budgets: In March 2018, Energy Secretary Rick Perry testified to a Senate panel about the Trump administration's DOE budget request for fiscal year 2019. The budget request prioritized nuclear security while making large cuts to energy efficiency and renewable energy programs. The proposal

2250-542: The supply of rare earth elements . ARPA-E was officially created by the America COMPETES Act , authored by Congressman Bart Gordon , within the United States Department of Energy (DOE) in 2007, though without a budget. The initial budget of about $ 400 million was a part of the economic stimulus bill of February 2009. Framatome Framatome ( French pronunciation: [fʁamatɔm] )

2300-557: The use of renewable energy sources while improving energy transmission infrastructure. It also proposed significant investments in hybrids and plug-in hybrids , smart grid technologies, and scientific research and innovation. As part of the $ 789 billion economic stimulus package in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, Congress provided Energy with an additional $ 38.3 billion for fiscal years 2009 and 2010, adding about 75 percent to Energy's annual budgets. Most of

2350-494: Was a $ 500 million increase in funds over fiscal year 2017. It "promotes innovations like a new Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response (CESER) and gains for the Office of Fossil Energy. Investments would be made to strengthen the National Nuclear Security Administration and modernize the nuclear force, as well as in weapons activities and advanced computing." However, the budget for

2400-530: Was an extremely important issue of the time as the oil crisis was causing shortages and inflation . With the Three Mile Island accident , Carter was able to intervene with the help of the department. Through the DOE, Carter was able to make changes within the Nuclear Regulatory Commission , including improving management and procedures, since nuclear energy and weapons are responsibilities of

2450-632: Was by then already under construction in Italy. A formal contract was signed in September 1961 for Framatome to deliver a turnkey system, that is, not only the reactor, but an entire, ready-to-use system of piping, cabling, supports, and other auxiliary systems, propelling Framatome from a nuclear engineering firm to an industrial contractor. In January 1976, Westinghouse agreed to sell its remaining 15% share to Creusot-Loire , which now owned 66%, and to cede complete marketing independence to Framatome. In February,

2500-416: Was merged into Framatome. Framatome and Siemens had been officially cooperating since 1989 on the development of the European Pressurized Reactor (EPR). In 2001, after a merger with Cogema (now Orano ) and Technicatome, a new nuclear conglomerate called Areva was formed, and Framatome became Areva NP. In 2007, Areva and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries created a joint venture named Atmea , for marketing

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