To achieve 100% clean energy, groups should 'abandon a tribalistic attachment': UCS

Washington — In order to achieve 100% clean energy, groups should "abandon a tribalistic attachment to particular solutions," Ken Kimmell, president of the Union of Concerned Scientists, said June 24 during the "State of the Nuclear Energy Industry" Virtual Event held by the Nuclear Energy Institute.

"We support across the board policies that would give new nuclear power plants the opportunity to compete in a marketplace against wind and solar and other forms of decarbonized energy," Kimmel added.

UCS supports Illinois' Clean Energy Jobs Act to "drive Illinois to a 100% energy future" and "to allow nuclear and other sources to compete in capacity markets," which would "undo the FERC order which we see as fatally flawed," Kimmell added. "That's an example of cooperation" between UCS and the nuclear industry, he said.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's Minimum Offer Price Rule, or MOPR, could force nuclear operators to bid reactors into capacity market auctions at higher levels, increasing the chances that some nuclear units fail to clear the auctions and therefore stop receiving capacity market payments.

Maria Korsnick, president and CEO of NEI, said during the event, "The world is counting on carbon-free sources to complement one another – not just compete. Our choice isn't between nuclear power or wind and solar. It's between a status quo with rising emissions from fossil fuels or a low-carbon future with all available sources – including nuclear."

However, Kimmell said it is "difficult to cooperate" with the nuclear industry because "we don't support efforts to relax NRC safety standards," adding that doing so "is counterproductive and doesn't build the trust we need to move forward." He expressed "concerns of openness and transparency and sharing of information" in the nuclear industry.

"An example of where cooperation is hard" is in Ohio, which "supports nuclear but gutted a 100% renewable energy standard," Kimmell said.

Ohio passed House Bill 6 in July 2019 providing subsidies totaling $150 million in annual financial support to Davis Besse and Perry nuclear plants owned by FirstEnergy Solutions Corp.

Korsnick said Connecticut, New Jersey, Illinois, and Ohio support the operation of nuclear plants. She said in January that states' efforts to "preserve the nuclear fleet" could be "undercut" by FERC.

"We found it important to preserve the capacity of existing nuclear power plants, provided that they're safe and they meet all other caveats," Kimmell said, without elaborating. "There could be quite a bit of collaboration with those who think nuclear power is the answer and those who think renewables is the future."

A 'Herculean challenge'

It is a "Herculean challenge" to move from "about 40% clean energy to 100% in the next 30 years" while simultaneously "doubling the size of the electric grid," Kimmell said.

Korsnick said, "We need legislatures to codify policies that take advantage of every carbon-free option available – which would allow nuclear to compete on a level playing field."

Kimmell recommended Congress enact a clean energy infrastructure bill implementing a national price on carbon or a national clean energy standard.

Senator Joe Manchin, a West Virginia Democrat, said during the event, "There will be an infrastructure bill, it might be part of the next CARES package that we do." The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, or CARES Act, is intended to address the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic in the US.

Manchin added, "The CARES package coming out of the House is not the same as the one coming out of the Senate."

During an economic downturn such as a recession or depression, "infrastructure is the key," including the electric grid, Manchin said without elaborating.