The United States is speeding up efforts to license and build a new generation of nuclear reactors to supply carbon-free electricity. Faster development is one thing Congress and the administration agree on. President Joe Biden signed legislation in July to modernize the licensing of new reactor technologies so they can be built faster. Republican and Democratic leaders of the Senate environment and House energy committees praised the enactment. The U.S. is pursuing small modular reactors and advanced reactors. Some designs use something other than water for cooling, such as liquid metal, helium or liquid salt. Developers say the advanced coolants allow the reactors to run at low pressure, making them safer than traditional designs. Russia and China are the only countries that are already operating advanced reactors. The United States is trying to boost the new technology; the Energy Department announced $900 million in funding in June. Bill Gates’ company, TerraPower, is the first in the U.S. to apply to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for a construction permit for an advanced reactor that would operate as a commercial nuclear power plant. Readers had questions for The Associated Press about evolving nuclear. They wonder how the next generation of reactors can be a climate solution, where the radioactive waste would go, and above all, whether these new reactor designs are safe. The AP turned to White House National Climate Advisor Ali Zaidi and experts at the Energy Department and Nuclear Regulatory Commission to help answer those questions. Q: Elizabeth M. from Bisbee, Arizona said advanced nuclear seems like a compromise that, despite drawbacks, is the most practical and clean solution for America’s big energy appetite. We asked Zaidi for his take on how these new reactors can be a climate solution. Zaidi said the world has to feed future energy needs “in a way that doesn’t add to the problem of climate change.” Nuclear energy is one tool that can do that, he said. “As we are finding ourselves in the middle of the climate crisis in the decisive decade for climate action, it’s incumbent on us to pull every tool off of the sidelines and help harness these technologies in the race for the future,” Zaidi said. Nuclear power plants don’t emit the planet-warming greenhouse gases that come from power plants that burn fossil fuels. Q: At least one reader wondered about the timeline for these reactors to come online, lamenting how long it takes for older plants to get running. Zaidi said the U.S. is working hard to make it happen “in this decade.” And he said the goal is “a massive ramp-up and scale-up of this technology” over the next 10 to 15 years. The project furthest along, from Gates’ TerraPower, applied for its construction permit in March. The company has said it wants to start operating commercially in Wyoming in 2030. The NRC has a 27-month goal for its technical review. If NRC approves the project along that timeline, TerraPower could be spinning up electricity in the early 2030s if it takes about three years to gets its plant built and obtain an operating license. But that’s not certain. Other first-of-their-kind nuclear projects frequently faced delays and cost overruns. Q: Lots of readers — including Jim M. from Manheim, Pennsylvania — wanted to know what would happen […]