The Department of Energy will establish a process to auction off tax credits to financially-struggling nuclear power plants, according to the Senate-side version of a bipartisan infrastructure bill that may see a vote in the coming days.
Senate majority leader Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) filed for cloture Thursday on the proposed measure that would allocate roughly $6 billion to a plant credit program. If the bill became law, DOE would “establish a process for evaluating bids” and “select certified nuclear reactors” to get credits, according to the text of the legislation. Plants that post a projected annual operating loss are eligible for credits, the bill said.
The credits program also gives priority to reactors that use fuel rods containing uranium sourced from within the U.S., the bill said.
At deadline Friday for RadWaste Monitor a vote on the infrastructure bill hadn’t been scheduled.
There has been pressure on the Joe Biden administration to take some action to keep struggling nuclear plants afloat. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.V.) penned a letter to the administration in April urging them to prevent further plant closures. There were four planned plant closures in 2021 alone. The Indian Point Energy Center in New York state shut down earlier this year.
The infrastructure bill makes no mention of radioactive waste storage.
Meanwhile, a massive, seven-bill 2022 spending proposal that cleared the House on July 29 provided only about $20 million for DOE to begin community outreach aimed at siting a federal interim storage repository. The Senate Appropriations Committee was scheduled to roll out its version of DOE’s 2022 budget proposal on Wednesday, and that bill might be the last must-pass legislative language of the season with any jurisdiction over waste storage.
