(RightIsRight.co) – In a major step to guarantee America’s energy independence, the Senate recently advanced a significant pro-nuclear energy bill and sent it to Joe Biden for approval.
Despite its passage, experts caution that this legislation alone will not spark a broad revival of nuclear energy in the U.S.
Praised by pro-nuclear groups as a critical step forward for the nation’s energy strategy, the ADVANCE Act won Senate approval with an 88-2 bipartisan vote.
While the bill promises to loosen long-standing constraints on the nuclear sector by streamlining licensing costs, repurposing old industrial sites for nuclear reactors and boosting the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) with more resources, it falls short of tackling all the industry’s challenges.
According to Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), her bill is a welcome boost for the nuclear industry, which has seen stagnant growth despite increased interest in reducing carbon emissions from the U.S. power grid and economy.
Nuclear Energy Institute president and CEO Maria Korsnick praised the bill, stating, “This bipartisan legislative package ensures the U.S. maintains its leadership on the global stage and helps meet our climate and national energy security goals.”
However, the legislation does not completely address some critical issues, such as the NRC’s cautious approach and the absence of solid financial safeguards against cost overruns, which could dampen the rapid expansion of nuclear technology.
John Starkey from the American Nuclear Society views the bill as a positive yet insufficient step toward a nuclear renaissance and discussed concerns that the bill by itself is unlikely to significantly change the industry’s trajectory.
Institute for Energy Research senior fellow Dan Kish criticized the NRC for being overly conservative and creating a “regulatory morass” that inflates costs and stifles growth within the nuclear sector.
According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, as of August 2023, the U.S. had 54 nuclear power plants and 93 commercial reactors, supplying about 19% of the nation’s electricity.
The lifespan of nuclear reactors is capped between 40 to 80 years, with the average reactor currently around 42 years old.
While nuclear power saw rapid expansion from the late 1960s to the late 1990s, growth has stopped over the last two decades.
Nevertheless, nuclear remains a dependable low-carbon energy source compared to the more intermittent solar and wind options that the Biden administration is pushing to decarbonize the U.S. power sector by 2035 and the broader economy by 2050.
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