Light Water Reactor Sustainability Program
U.S. government research and development program
The Light Water Reactor Sustainability Program is a U.S. government research and development program. It is directed by the United States Department of Energy and is aimed at performing research and compiling data necessary to qualify for licenses to extend the life of America's current 104 electricity generating nuclear power plants beyond 60 years of life. Practically all of the commercial electric-generating nuclear power plants currently in the United States are light water reactor (LWR) plants, meaning they use ordinary (light) water as a moderator and coolant simultaneously.
The basis for the project is founded on the facts that in the near future:
demand for electricity is projected to increase significantly
The U.S. has goals to significantly lower carbon dioxide emissions
During his presidential campaign, Barack Obama stated, "Nuclear power represents more than 70% of our noncarbon generated electricity. It is unlikely that we can meet our aggressive climate goals if we eliminate nuclear power as an option."
The LWRS Program operates on the premise that electricity from nuclear generating stations, as a zero-carbon source, can and must play a critical role as part of an overall solution to both of these needs. The LWRS Program focuses on four main areas: Materials Aging and Degradation, Advanced Instrumentation, Information, and Control Systems Technologies, Advanced Light Water Reactor Nuclear Fuels, and finally, Risk-Informed Safety Margin Characterization.
Projected Increase in Demand
Domestic demand for electric energy is expected to grow by more than 30% from 2009 to 2035. At the same time, most of the currently operating nuclear power plants will begin reaching the end of their initial 20-year extension to their original 40-year operating license, for a total of 60 years of operation.
According to one study,
demand will increase by 30-40% by the year 2030. Other studies suggest an even higher increase in the world in general: above 80% by 2035.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Light Water Reactor Sustainability Program” as u.S. government research and development program. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the history & society register because the source frames it as u.S. government research and development program. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Chronology, provenance and viewpoint should be read together before a broad social or political interpretation is accepted. The source revision retrieved here is dated Feb 1, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q6546109. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2009, 2035 and 2030.
Institutional narratives can privilege the records that survived while minimizing voices that were never formally collected. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Compare institutional narratives with records created by participants and affected communities. Dates and formal titles are useful anchors, but not substitutes for context.
- Event chronology
- Institutional context
- Locating named record creators
Contemporary correspondence, government or organizational records, oral histories and cited historical scholarship.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Light Water Reactor Sustainability Program”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Light Water Reactor Sustainability Program primary sources, Light Water Reactor Sustainability Program archive and Light research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Light Water Reactor Sustainability Program”?
- Which voices are present, absent or mediated by the institution?
- Who created the surviving record, and for what administrative purpose?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Light Water Reactor Sustainability Program” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.