How did I miss this? Neither The Freep nor The News mention this item.
The Biden administration is poised to lend $1.5 billion for what what would be the first restart of a shuttered US nuclear reactor, the latest sign of strengthening federal government support for the atomic industry.
[…] More than a dozen reactors have closed since 2013 amid competition from cheaper power from natural gas and renewables, and the Energy Department has warned that as many of half of the nation’s nuclear reactors are at risk of closing due to economic factors.
Holtec [International Corp.] acquired the [Covert Twp, MI] 800-megawatt power plant in 2022 after Entergy Corp. closed it due to financial reasons, but began pushing forward with plans to restart after pleas from Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer.
Holtec has said a restart of the reactor is contingent on a federal loan. Without such support, the company has said it would decommission the site.
Have I got this straight? Is this the only way we have to generate the needed electricity without leaning on “dirty” sources? The energy required can’t be fulfilled by existing clean sources?
Nuclear, beside being a clean and abundant source of energy, is also safe, like air travel is safe. Also like air travel, it’s safe…until it isn’t.
Nuclear problem is costs, not safety. If safety was the primary goal you would be arguing that we should be shutting down solar arrays and wind turbines, given they kill far more people than nuclear. They’ve also wiped out a lot fewer towns than dams and coal plants have, but those don’t have big scary words attached to them and so people don’t care.
It is eminently reasonable to try and keep clean power operating instead of continually shuttering it for more natural gas plants.
