In another bid to combat mounting nuclear power plant closures, a group of Senate Democrats last week unveiled a bill to keep the existing fleet afloat.
If the Zero-Emission Nuclear Power Production Credit Act became law, nuclear plant operators could expect a tax credit on every kilowatt-hour (KWh) of electricity they produce, according to the measure introduced Thursday by Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.V.), Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Tom Carper (D-Del.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) and Cory Booker (D-N.J.). Qualifying nuclear plants would receive an annual credit of 1.5 cents per KWh, the bill said.
The bill was referred to the Senate Finance Committee. At deadline Tuesday for Weapons Complex Morning Briefing, the committee had scheduled no hearing or debate on the measure.
Keeping the existing nuclear fleet online is a major issue in both Congress and the Biden administration. The White House’s proposed American Jobs Plan included a $750 million program to provide credits to nuclear plants. Manchin himself sent a letter to the administration in April urging them to take action to prevent more nuclear plants from shutting down.
Four plants across the country were scheduled to go dark this year. One of these, Indian Point Energy Center in New York, shut down for good April 30. Next are the Byron and Dresden plants in Illinois as well as the Palisades plant in Michigan, all set to go offline later in the year. These closures will represent the majority of the country’s generating capacity loss this year, the Energy Information Administration said earlier this year.
