Safety, Licensing and Policy
Reactor Licensing
The INPI is currently working with the NRC to license an advanced high-temperature gas-cooled reactor (HTGCR) as a Class 104c Research Reactor following the 10 CFR Part 50 licensing pathway. To view all public documentation, access the Project overview. For further research, the project's identification number is NRC Project No. 99902094. Summaries of the licensing pathways and the pre-application documents are published on the microreactor "Licensing Information and Regulatory Engagement" webpage.
Publications
This research investigates the differences in awareness and preference of racial groups toward the types of energy that they would like to see incorporated into the future energy system. Based on a national survey of 3000 respondents conducted in 2020, we analyze the differences in awareness, preferences and attitudes among racial groups in the US, and how they will influence future energy system design, cognizant of a rapidly changing demographic. Utilizing robust statistical analysis methods, we ascertain cultural and demographic based differences in energy technology awareness, opinions and deployment preferences, and, building on this evidence base, develop an energy system model which allocates these preferences toward future energy system design. The findings are contrasted with current national energy system goals, highlighting the need for both bottom-up policy input which is culturally and demographically aware, alongside top-down energy system goals and guidelines.
Cultural diversity is increasing in the US, which is likely to have an impact on preferences toward future energy policy.
This research investigates people’s lived experience and preferences through a nationally representative survey (n = 3000) regarding the energy system, and how these relate to cultural group and other demographics.
Our study highlights the influence of cultural background in the US, alongside educational achievement and income level on perceptions toward the energy system and energy policy.
Through rigorous multivariate statistical evaluation of cultural groupings, income and education on energy system preferences and lived experience, we identified cultural groups that experience energy affordability differently, irrespective of income or educational achievement.
For energy policy issue and factor importance, we identify a positive link with educational achievement and income, varying across cultural grouping.
Overall, Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islanders and American Indian and Native Alaskans had a muted response to energy policy issues and energy system factors compared to their peers.
Our findings identified a need to enhance overall educational outcomes to engender more positive attitudes toward improving the environment, and the need for policy makers to be aware of cultural group preferences to enable development of energy policies which improve recognition justice outcomes.