The nation’s nuclear fleet would get a cash injection if the Joe Biden administration’s proposed bipartisan infrastructure bill becomes law, according to a summary of the trillion-dollar measure.
Under the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the Department of Energy would get roughly $6 billion to dole out over four fiscal years to struggling nuclear power plants, according to a bill summary viewed by Weapons Complex Morning Briefing. DOE would “establish a process to evaluate bids through an auction process and select certified nuclear reactors to be allocated credits,” the summary said.
The bipartisan compromise infrastructure bill was announced Wednesday night.
A tax credit could potentially be a lifeline for the U.S. nuclear fleet, which is already staring down the barrel of several plant closures this year alone.
New York’s Indian Nuclear Generating Station shuttered for good April 30. The Byron and Dresden plants in Illinois as well as the Palisades plant in Michigan are all slated to shut down later this year. Members of Congress such as Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.V.) have sounded the alarm about plant closures and have urged the Biden administration to take action to prevent further shutdowns.
Meanwhile, the infrastructure bill’s summary contains no language about spent nuclear fuel storage or transportation. The Biden DOE’s $20 million budget request for fiscal 2022 to tackle a federal interim storage site. Most of the requested funding is to explore a consent-based siting approach that seeks to secure permission from all levels of government prior to selecting a site for consolidation of high-level waste from different generators across the country.
