The Joe Biden administration’s budget request proves they’re willing to help out the nuclear energy industry as part of its clean energy agenda, the Secretary of Energy said at a trade group conference Tuesday.
“The administration isn’t just ready to talk the talk, we’re willing to walk the walk” on nuclear energy, said Jennifer Granholm at Tuesday’s session of the Nuclear Energy Institute’s (NEI) annual Nuclear Energy Assembly, held virtually.
During her brief statement to the industry conference, Granholm outlined the Biden administration’s recent budget proposal, which included a cash injection for the nation’s existing nuclear fleet in the form of a $750 million credit program. She also said the administration is “looking ahead” with investments in advanced nuclear energy. Some of those new technologies, like small modular reactors, could be online “within the decade,” Granholm said.
Granholm also acknowledged the administration’s request for “consent-based siting” funding for a federal interim storage facility to house the nation’s spent nuclear fuel. The Department of Energy’s fiscal year 2022 budget request includes funding for a “near-term solution,” she said. “A long-term solution, we hope, will be developed by Congress,” Granholm said.
The energy secretary ended her address to NEI by asking for industry’s cooperation as the Biden administration looks to include nuclear energy in its clean energy agenda.
“Here’s the thing,” Granholm said. “We need experts like yourselves standing up and speaking out if we’re going to get these proposals over the line. The only way to finally get our arms around the climate crisis is by working together.”
