Nuclear Power Key to US’s Clean Energy Goals, Energy Secretary Says

Duke Energy, which operates the Harris nuclear power plant, wants its reactors to run until they are 80, the CEO told Barron’s.

Courtesy of Duke Energy

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Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said nuclear energy must be part of the US’s clean-energy transition as it aims to achieve the Biden administration’s carbon-emission goals.

The Inflation Reduction Act, which awaits President Joe Biden’s signature, includes $30 billion in tax credits to support existing nuclear power plants over the next decade. That is on top of money set aside in last year’s infrastructure law to develop nuclear energy.

“Nuclear has to be part of the array of clean energy technologies, zero-carbon emitting baseload power,” Granholm told CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday. “And so there is money both in the bipartisan infrastructure law and as well as in the Inflation Reduction Act to incentivize the development” and keep the existing operations online, she said.

A little under 20% of US electric power is generated by nuclear facilities, according to the Energy Information Administration.

On Friday, California Gov. Gavin Newsom proposed extending the life of the state’s last operating nuclear power plant by at least five to 10 years, the Associated Press reported. The goal is to preserve reliable power sources as the US rushes to adopt clean energy.

Earlier in August, Granholm toured nuclear facilities in the Pacific Northwest, saying nuclear energy is key to meeting Biden’s goal of 100% clean energy by 2035 and net-zero emissions by 2050, the AP reported.

Touring the Idaho National Laboratory, a top nuclear research facility, Granholm said nuclear power could cut the greenhouse gas emissions that have been blamed for extreme weather and climate change.

The average US nuclear plant age is now close to the typical license period of 40 years, Barron’s reported last week, though power plants can run for much longer with extensions such as the one being sought by California’s Newsom.

Duke Energy (ticker: DUK) operates the largest regulated nuclear-power business, and wants to run its reactors until they reach 80 years old, CEO Lynn Good told Barron’s in an interview.

With nuclear energy the future, Duke revealed in its second quarter earnings report it is undertaking a strategic review of its wind- and solar-generation business, which ranks among the 10 largest such businesses in the US but adds less than 5% of Duke’s earnings .

Write to Liz Moyer at [email protected]

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