[DOE, 24 May 2018]

Dan Brouillette, the U.S. Deputy Secretary of Energy, launched two new clean energy initiatives which he announced at the ninth Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM9) in Copenhagen, Denmark. The initiatives will go into effect immediately and are titled: 1) Nuclear Innovation: Clean Energy Future (NICE Future) Initiative; and 2) Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage (CCUS) Initiative. Both these initiatives were proposed by DOE Secretary Rick Perry during the last CEM meeting in Beijing. The NICE Future Initiative aims to boost the perception of nuclear energy as a clean and reliable fuel source; it will also “address improved power system integration through innovative, advanced energy systems and applications, such as nuclear-renewable systems.” This initiative will be a joint venture led by the U.S., Canada, and Japan. The CCUS Initiative focuses more on building a collaborative framework to encourage partnerships regarding CCUS between the public and private sectors; it also supports existing efforts to encourage CCUS in the energy industry such as those by the Carbon Sequestration Leadership Forum, the International Energy Agency, and the Global CCS Institute. This initiative will be led by the United States, Norway, and Saudi Arabia.