The U.S. Department of Energy has allocated $6 billion to help nuclear power plants that operate efficiently, have a strong safety record, and are viewed as a wise investment toward helping the Biden administration achieve its goal of reducing carbon emissions.
The DOE’s new $6 billion Civil Nuclear Credit Program is part of the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill that Congress passed in November.
Ohio’s two nuclear plants, Energy Harbor’s Davis-Besse nuclear plant east of Toledo and its Perry nuclear plant east of Cleveland, likely won’t qualify, though.
For starters, Ohio and Michigan are among several states with deregulated electricity markets, which began back when nuclear plants were much more financially viable.
In recent years, the entire nuclear industry — but especially those plants in deregulated markets — have had trouble competing with low natural gas prices brought on from the current era of horizontal fracking and greater investments in wind power, solar power, and other forms of renewable energy.
While not ruling out the possibility of assisting plants in deregulated energy markets, DOE officials who spoke with The Blade agreed that is a major consideration.
"For now, we've proposed a pretty wide aperture,” Kelly Lefler, a senior advisor in the DOE’s Office of Nuclear Energy, said. “We will be looking at economic circumstances, including profits and losses."
Energy Harbor, the current owner of those plants, has not responded to multiple requests for comment about the DOE program.
DTE Energy’s Fermi 2 nuclear plant in northern Monroe County is also in a state with a deregulated electricity market.
“We’ll continue to evaluate DOE program, but we don’t see it as applicable to us,” Stephen Tait, DTE’s spokesman for Fermi 2, said.
The goal of the DOE’s new program is to keep as many of America’s remaining 93 reactors online as it can to help in the battle against climate-altering greenhouse gases.
Twelve have shut down since 2013, several prematurely because of economic pressures, the DOE said.
The situation that been of great concern for several years now to the Nuclear Energy Institute, the industry’s Washington-based lobbying arm.
“We are encouraged by the efforts of Congress and the Biden Administration to ensure that America’s largest source of carbon-free electricity [generation] will remain a foundation for a clean energy economy,” Matt Crozat, NEI senior director of policy development, said. “We look forward to working with the Department of Energy to make the civil nuclear credit program as effective as possible.”
As for safety and reliability, the DOE said it will consider track records of each plant on an individual basis as part of the application vetting process.
The DOE said it “must determine that the NRC has assurance that the reactor will continue to operate according to its licensing basis and pose no significant safety risks.”
Support will be made in the form of credits issued in four-year increments. Recipients are allowed to reapply.
The program is set up to last through Sept. 30, 2031, and could possibly last as long as 2035 if there’s enough money left.
The DOE will seek transparency from utilities applying for credits, and require them to turn over their financial records.
“Our objective is to save as many plants that meet these conditions as possible,” Andrew Griffith, deputy assistant secretary for the DOE’s nuclear fuel cycle and supply chain, told The Blade. "We are working as fast as we can because the need is urgent."
Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, a Democrat and a former Michigan governor, said the new program makes it possible to help President Biden achieve some of his goals for reducing climate-altering emissions.
She said it allows the DOE “to leverage our existing clean energy infrastructure, strengthen our energy security, and protect U.S. jobs.”
Requests for information and notices of intent to apply are due March 17.
"Once we receive responses for information, we will develop the guidance," Mr. Griffith said.
First Published February 18, 2022, 7:08 p.m.
