The 2017 Advanced Nuclear Summit

Third Way hosted the second annual Advanced Nuclear Summit on February 21, 2017 in Washington, DC. 

Catch up on the excitement from the day using #AdvancingNuclear on social media!

This year, we highlighted the enormous benefits that advanced nuclear commercialization can offer the U.S. With some help from Washington, our advanced nuclear industry can deliver substantial economic growth and competitiveness, job creation, and global leadership for America on issues like security and climate change. The AFL-CIO's Liz Shuler proclaimed that promoting nuclear—both existing and advanced nuclear development—is good for the labor movement and good for the country.

Domestic and international leaders in industry, government, and foreign affairs spoke about the tremendous opportunity the U.S. has have to maintain global leadership by supporting the development of next generation nuclear technology. But that requires policy support and investment in efforts like GAIN at the Department of Energy. GAIN's Rita Baranwal spoke about the need to innovate differently and how that infuses their work to be a valuable partner for advanced nuclear innovators. Thankfully, there is bipartisan support for advanced nuclear on Capitol Hill. Senator Chris Coons addressed the event and spoke about finding common ground on nuclear energy in this pivotal moment with Senators Lisa Murkowski and Tim Scott, who addressed the packed room by video.

Learn more about the advanced nuclear industry

Check out our latest reports and infographics:

• INFOGRAPHIC: The Advanced Nuclear Industry: 2016 Update
  Third Way has identified a new generation of engineers, entrepreneurs, and investors, along with several established nuclear companies, who are working to commercialize innovative and advanced nuclear reactors in North America.
• REPORT: Advanced Nuclear 101
  Advanced nuclear technologies are developing more rapidly than most experts expected. In 2015, 48 companies and institutions backed by more than $1.3 billion private capital are working to build the next generation of nuclear reactors. But what are these innovators trying to create? Here we provide a basic breakdown of the most promising designs, including how they work and what benefits they bring.
• REPORT: Getting Back in the Game: A Strategy to Boost American Nuclear Exports
  The U.S. has been the leading supplier of civilian nuclear technologies to companies around the globe since the dawn of nuclear power in the 1950s. But we've lost the top exporter spot in recent years and risk falling further behind as state-owned foreign actors are increasingly pushing America out of the global market. Three actions can help us reestablish American nuclear exports as a domestic and foreign policy priority.
• REPORT: Nuclear Energy Renaissance Set to Move Ahead Without U.S.
  Our analysis shows that the U.S. under-spends on advanced nuclear R&D. Worse, other countries outspend the U.S. in nuclear R&D, meaning the U.S. risks losing its international leadership on nuclear energy and mitigating climate change, as well as a slice of the $1 trillion in nuclear infrastructure the world needs by 2035.
• REPORT: A Step-by-Step Guide to Nuclear Innovation Policy
  To see how policies proposed by the Administration and Congress (and advocates like us) help nuclear innovators move from a good idea to a demonstration reactor, we follow Carla, a hypothetical nuclear innovator, brings an idea to commercialization.