Welcome to your Friday Rundown for the week ending August 4. If you still have the energy, we always welcome your feedback at info@clearpathaction.org.
VC SUMMER ISN’T DEATH KNELL FOR NUCLEAR
Monday’s announcement of a suspension in the construction in South Carolina of two of the first new U.S. nuclear reactors in more than three decades set off a wave of apocalyptic pronouncements for the state of the industry. But progress continues for building two other reactors in Georgia, as well as NuScale Power’s efforts to design and build small modular reactors that would be quicker, easier, cheaper and less risky than conventional reactors.
CLEARPATH EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR RICH POWELL:
There’s no sugarcoating that the decision to abandon construction of VC Summer is a body blow to our nuclear industry – but it only means the U.S. must re-double our commitment.
Maintaining America’s global nuclear dominance is non-negotiable. We need a thriving domestic nuclear industry to preserve global weapons non-proliferation and support our nuclear Navy – not to mention to preserve our largest source of clean power.
But VC Summer’s failure is a symptom of a broader problem for the U.S. nuclear sector. American firms are now deeply challenged to build the vast megaprojects needed to house the current generation of nuclear designs. These don’t fit well in our increasingly complex and competitive power market. And we lack critical federal investment and policies that reward nuclear’s unique contributions.
ClearPath Founder Jay Faison teamed with NuScale Power CEO John Hopkins in an op-ed for The Hill to make the compelling case of why small modular reactors and other advanced nuclear is particularly vital now amid the VC Summer news. Innovation doesn’t come cheap or easy. It doesn’t come out of nowhere. It takes a lot of work. But the future of clean energy must include nuclear and the future of nuclear must include advancements by NuScale and others. Check out their op-ed below:
Senators Thursday restored a quorum at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for the first time since early February by confirming GOP nominees Neil Chatterjee and Robert Powelson. The five-member commission is now a trio – including Acting Chairman Cheryl LaFleur – which is enough to start making headway on a wealth of stalled projects and other decisions involving everything from modernizing the electric grid to natural gas pipelines. Rich Powell also has laid out how important FERC is to restoring a wholesale market pricing system that better rewards reliable power producers such as nuclear.
The White House Wednesday officially sent the Senate the nominations of Republican Kevin McIntyre to be the next FERC chairman and Rich Glick to join LaFleur as the Democrats on the commission. The Senate energy committee has scheduled a hearing for Sept. 7.
Dan Brouillette’s nomination to be deputy energy security was also easily confirmed by the Senate Thursday. Jay Faison: “Dan is a rare combination of deep departmental experience and high-level business experience. He will do a great job.”
The Senate energy committee Thursday approved the nominations of Mark Menezes to be Energy Department undersecretary and Paul Dabbar to be undersecretary for science at the department.
NEWS NUGGET
The Department of Energy announced $7.8 million for 11 innovation projects in California, Colorado, Texas, Ohio, Illinois and Massachusetts. The aim is to provide new financing or software to allow more clean energy technological transfers from the department to the private sector. DETAILS
SPEED READ
Third Way’s Josh Freed: Advanced Nuclear is a Winning Issue in a Tri-Partisan Washington GREENTECH MEDIA
Trent Lott and Byron Dorgan: Bipartisanship Is Happening To Secure America’s Energy Future THE HILL
