Advanced Reactors Global Market Outlook and Economic Assessment: United States and Canada AR Economic Assessment Study

Nuclear energy is arguably an important option in the United States and global clean energy portfolios. The 2023 Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP28) finished with an announcement by leaders of 22 countries of a goal of tripling nuclear energy capacity by 2050 to meet climate goals and energy needs. However, nuclear power still faces a complex economic and policy environment that may challenge the growth of the industry. The development of new advanced nuclear reactor (AR) technologies could help the nuclear industry overcome some of these challenges and encourage a more robust expansion of nuclear capacity. Nonetheless, this growth will also depend on the market and policy conditions of the energy sector. This analysis investigates the conditions under which nuclear power could play a role in future markets in the United States and Canada. This study uses EPRI’s North America Regional Economy, Greenhouse Gas, and Energy (NA-REGEN) energy-economic model to explore tradeoffs across assumptions about technologies, markets, and policies. Model results suggest that ARs could be economically viable across a range of scenarios, but there may need to be substantial changes in current market and policy conditions in order to spur stronger deployment of AR capacity in the United States and Canada. The results show substantial variation in the regional economic viability for AR power across the United States and Canada.