Reimagining Project Delivery for Advanced Nuclear
Steve Chengelis is EPRI Vice President, Energy Supply, Nuclear Development, and Fusion.
If you ask most industry leaders what stands between advanced nuclear technology and large-scale deployment, the answers are often familiar: licensing, fuel availability, supply chain constraints, workforce development, financing, and public policy. Those challenges are real and the industry is actively working to address each of them.
However, there is another challenge that receives far less attention, yet it may ultimately determine whether advanced nuclear achieves the scale and impact many of us believe is possible.
Execution
For decades, the nuclear industry has invested heavily in technological innovation. Today’s advanced reactor designs are more diverse, flexible, and capable than its predecessors. Digital engineering tools continue to improve. Manufacturing techniques are evolving. New approaches to siting, construction, and operations are emerging across the globe.
Yet despite this progress, one reality remains difficult to ignore: the nuclear industry’s ability to consistently deliver large, complex projects on budget and on schedule has not advanced at the same pace.
The challenge is not a lack of innovation. It’s that the sector has often focused innovation on what they build rather than how they build it, and that distinction matters.