The day the United States is without nuclear power is a day we don’t want to see in our country’s future. That may seem like a distant and unlikely scenario to some, but in fact it’s a very real threat to our economy and way of life – and an important part of the energy agenda I laid out last week at the Nuclear Energy Institute.
As chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy & Water Development, I’ll work on getting things done that will unleash nuclear power as the abundant supply of cheap, clean, reliable energy we need. The subcommittee also gives me the opportunity to work on important Tennessee priorities, such as Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the Y-12 National Nuclear Security Complex, and Chickamauga Lock.
According to a 2013 report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, up to 25 of our 99 nuclear reactors could close by 2020. So what could we do to avoid this?
1. Build more nuclear reactors.
2. Solve the nuclear waste stalemate.
There is renewed hope that we can solve the 25-year-old stalemate on what to do with waste from our reactors, and Yucca Mountain can and should be part of the solution.
3. Relieve the burdens of excessive regulation.
We want nuclear power to be safe, but we don’t want to make it so hard and expensive to build and operate reactors that you can’t do it.
We should be reexamining regulation of the nuclear reactor licensing process to make sure it’s not an undue burden.
4. End policies that pick winners and losers in the marketplace.
The most conspicuous example is the wasteful wind production tax credit, which has now been in place for 22 years. Extending this wasteful tax subsidy for one year, costs tax payers $6 billion.
5. Double energy research.
Government-sponsored research supports critical technological advances.
Take for example our latest energy boom, natural gas. The development of unconventional gas was enabled in part by 3D mapping at Sandia National Lab in New Mexico and the Department of Energy’s large-scale demonstration project. Then our free enterprise system, and our tradition of private ownership of mineral rights, capitalized on the research.
6. Encourage energy diversity.
Historically, natural gas prices have a way of going up and going down, sometimes abruptly, and experienced utility managers generally prefer more than one way of producing viable, base-load power. This is yet another reason why we need nuclear energy to be a major part of how we power our 21st century economy.
If we do all of these things, our energy future will be bright.
For more information or to express your views, contact Alexander online at alexander.senate.gov.
