The Biden administration is “eager” to work with Congress on subsidizing economically struggling nuclear plants to keep them from retiring, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said Thursday.
“The DOE has not historically subsidized plants, but this is a moment to consider to make sure we keep the current fleet active,” Granholm said in testimony about her agency’s budget request before an energy subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee.
THE CLOSURE OF NEW YORK NUCLEAR PLANT DENTS CLEAN ENERGY GOALS
Granholm said the White House can’t meet its aggressive climate goals without maintaining America’s existing fleet of nuclear plants. The nation’s 93 nuclear reactors supply more than half the country’s carbon-free electricity.
“We are not going to be able to achieve our climate goals if nuclear power plants shut down. We have to find ways to keep them operating,” Granholm said.
Granholm’s statement represents the first time an administration official has publicly acknowledged its interest in working with Congress to subsidize nuclear power plants that have been closing in recent years due to competition from natural gas and renewables.
She was responding to a question from Rep. Cheri Bustos, an Illinois Democrat, a state where four more reactors are slated for premature closure this year.
Just last week, the last of three reactors shut down at the Indian Point nuclear plant outside New York.
The White House has signaled privately to lawmakers and stakeholders in recent weeks that it supports taxpayer subsidies to keep nuclear facilities from closing, Reuters reported this week, but no Biden administration official had said so on the record.
Granholm, on Thursday, did not propose a specific type of subsidy, only floating that help for nuclear could be included as part of President Joe Biden’s $2.3 trillion infrastructure and climate spending proposal.
The White House is interested in working with Congress to provide production tax credits to nuclear plants, sources following the conversations have confirmed to the Washington Examiner.
That step would reward nuclear for the level of energy it generates in the same way tax credits authorized by Congress over recent years subsidize wind and solar production.
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A production tax credit is an “essential step,” said Maria Korsnick, president and CEO of the Nuclear Energy Institute.
“We look forward to working with the Administration and Congress to ensure that proposals like a PTC effectively address the economic hurdles our carbon-free nuclear plants are facing,” Korsnick told the Washington Examiner.
