The Department of Energy’s goal of establishing a “clean energy standard” for zero-carbon sources of electricity will ensure that demand for nuclear power stays high in the face of mounting plant closures, the Secretary of Energy said Wednesday.
“The number one solution the [Joe Biden] administration believes is very important for nuclear’s future is to ensure that demand for nuclear stays high — and that would be in the efforts related to a clean energy standard as part of the American Jobs Plan,” said Jennifer Granholm at the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s FY2022 DOE budget request hearing.
Granholm said that keeping nuclear plants open is critical to the administration’s goal of developing advanced nuclear technologies. After the Indian Point plant in New York went offline in April, there are still three more plants set to shut down in 2021 alone. The Energy Information Administration forecast in January that nuclear plant closures will represent the biggest share of generating capacity lost across all sectors this year.
Two of the plants scheduled to close this year — Byron and Dresden in Illinois — are in Rep. Adam Kinzinger’s (R-Ill.) district, he told Granholm Wednesday. Granholm said she personally called Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) about the issue, and that DOE supports “efforts at the state level” to keep plants open.
Plant closures have drawn attention from both chambers of Congress. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.V.), who heads up the Senate’s energy panel, penned a letter to President Biden in April urging his administration to take action to prevent further shutdowns.
