Latest News

United States looks to reanimate more nuclear reactors, White House consultant states

The Biden administration is working on plans to bring extra decommissioned nuclear power reactors back online to help fulfill soaring need for emissionsfree electrical power, White Home environment advisor Ali Zaidi said on Monday.

2 such projects are currently underway, consisting of the planned recommissioning of Holtec's Palisades nuclear plant in Michigan and the potential reboot of a system at Constellation Energy's Three Mile Island plant in Pennsylvania, near the website of the worst nuclear accident in U.S. history.

Asked if additional shuttered plants might be rebooted, Zaidi said: We're dealing with it in a really concrete method. There are two that I can think about.

He declined to recognize the power plants or supply additional details about the effort.

Speaking at the Reuters Sustainability conference in New York, Zaidi stated repowering existing inactive nuclear plants was part of a three-pronged strategy of President Joe Biden's. administration to bring more nuclear power online to eliminate. climate modification and boost production.

The other 2 prongs consist of development of little modular. reactors (SMRs) for particular applications, and continuing. advancement of next generation, advanced nuclear reactors.

Biden has actually called for a tripling of U.S. nuclear power. capability to fuel energy need that is speeding up in part due. to expansion of power starving innovations like synthetic. intelligence and cloud computing.

Recently, the Biden administration said it closed a $1.52. billion loan to resurrect the Palisades nuclear plant in. Michigan, which would take 2 years to re-open.

Constellation and Microsoft, on the other hand, signed a. power deal last month to help resurrect a system of the. Pennsylvania plant, which Constellation hopes will also get. government support.

Zaidi told the conference that the U.S. Navy on Monday had. inquired to construct SMRs on a half dozen bases. SMR. is an innovation that is not a decades-away play. It's one that. companies in the United States are wanting to deploy in this. decade, he said.

Zaidi likewise addressed the issues that have actually beleaguered a different. Biden clean energy goal, to bring 30 gigawatts of offshore wind. capacity online by the end of the years.

The administration shelved offshore wind lease sales this. year in both Oregon and the Gulf of Mexico due to low need. from business, as high costs, devices concerns and supply chain. obstacles struck other jobs.

Zaidi said a minimum of half of the 30GW goal is currently under. building and construction which some of the early snags supply useful. finding out for future tasks.

I am pretty positive about the next of wave of tasks. where we will have a domestic supply chain and ideally much better. expense to capital relative to what jobs are facing today,. he said.

(source: Reuters)