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DOE official: US nuclear power fleet at 'tipping point'

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DOE official: US nuclear power fleet at 'tipping point'

A range of issues, including a stalemate over U.S. nuclear waste storage policy and a spate of recent plant retirements, have put the country's nuclear power fleet at a "tipping point," a U.S. Department of Energy official told lawmakers Feb. 6.

The comments came months after the Trump administration requested changes to wholesale power market rules to better support nuclear energy. The proposal, filed with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission but later rejected, drew rebukes from natural gas and renewable power supporters who said such a rule would be anti-competitive, but nuclear power backers still want market and policy reforms.

"We are in an extremely challenging moment in time," said Ed McGinnis, principal deputy assistant secretary of the DOE's Office of Nuclear Energy. "Many in the industry and in my office ... see our nation at an inflection point with regards to the future of our nuclear fleet. In fact, I would say we're at a tipping point."

McGinnis made the comments during a hearing on nuclear infrastructure held by the energy subcommittee of the U.S. House of Representatives' Committee on Energy and Commerce. The gathering was one in a series of hearings the subcommittee is holding on modernizing the DOE.

Witnesses on the panel highlighted concerns that Russia and China are far outpacing U.S. investment in new nuclear facilities, which provide the bulk of clean energy in the U.S. Of the 58 nuclear reactors being built worldwide, only two are located in the U.S., Nuclear Energy Institute President and CEO Maria Korsnick testified. The two U.S. reactors now under construction are Units 3 and 4 at Georgia Power Co.'s Vogtle plant.

Meanwhile, six U.S. nuclear units with a combined capacity of 4,100 MW have closed in the past five years and another eight units totaling 7,100 MW are scheduled to retire.

"The United States is no longer the the undisputed leader in civilian nuclear technology," Energy Subcommittee Chairman Fred Upton, R-Mich., said at the hearing.

Potential remedies

McGinnis and other government officials offered possible avenues to strengthening and expanding the nuclear fleet. For instance, the DOE is working with industry to develop the technical basis for extending from 60 years to 80 years the length of reactor licenses.

Mark Peters, director of the Idaho National Laboratory, also advocated public-private partnerships to support the next generation of advanced nuclear reactors. Such a partnership has been vital to making progress on a proposed light-water small modular reactor that NuScale Power LLC will build at the Idaho lab. That project is slated to begin producing electricity for a Utah municipal utility in 2026.

Nuclear backers are also pushing for a permanent solution to nuclear waste and spent fuel management. The DOE under former President Barack Obama terminated plans to build a high-level radioactive waste storage facility at the Yucca Mountain site in Nevada, but Republicans in Congress are pushing to restart the initiative.

U.S. Rep. John Shimkus, R-Ill., introduced a bill that would allow for interim waste storage and provide spending on a permanent waste repository. The Energy and Commerce Committee approved the bill, but the legislation has yet to reach the House floor due to an impasse on appropriations for the proposal.

McGinnis said the Trump administration was committed to solving the storage stalemate, echoing comments from Energy Secretary Rick Perry that "it's very important to stop kicking the can down the road."

House lawmakers have also introduced legislation to make the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission's fee collection and licensing processes more transparent and provide certainty to developers of new plants. The legislation, House Bill 1320, was introduced by Reps. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., and Mike Doyle, D-Pa.

DOE grid rule controversy

Some industry representatives, including the Nuclear Energy Institute, or NEI, also want changes to power market price formation rules to ensure nuclear plants receive adequate compensation. The NEI had backed the DOE's proposal for FERC to issue a rule that would ensure power plants with at least 90 days of onsite fuel supply, mainly coal and nuclear plants, can recover all their costs plus a return on investment in certain regions with competitive capacity and electricity markets.

Although FERC ultimately rejected the request and started a separate proceeding to explore the issue further, Korsnick asked lawmakers to encourage the commission to direct regional grid operators "to move forward with price reform efforts to recognize the reliability contributions of baseload resources." She added that the committee should support FERC's and grid operators' efforts to "identify grid resilience risks associated with fuel-security issues," including reliance on "just-in-time" natural-gas deliveries.

The American Petroleum Institute, which represents oil and gas producers, quickly fired back at Korsnick's suggestion that gas-fired plants pose resilience risks.

"Creating false narratives about unfounded reliability concerns and advocating for subsidies that benefit one fuel type over another only hurt efforts to improve the reliability and resilience of the electric grid," API Market Development Group Director Todd Snitchler said in a statement.

The NEI's stance on the DOE price formation proposal alienated at least one of the group's members. NextEra Energy Inc. dropped its NEI membership over the group's support of the proposed rulemaking and other "irrational and unreasonable policies that would distort electric energy markets," NextEra said.

When asked whether other NEI members may leave the organization, Korsnick told reporters after the Feb. 6 hearing "it's not something I can conjecture on. I can just say we have a lot of very happy members."