The Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI), a nuclear industry lobbying group, recently sent a letter to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), imploring the agency to give states the latitude needed to keep their nuclear plants in operation as the EPA's Clean Power Plan goes into effect.
The NEI sees nuclear plants as integral to the Clean Power Plan's goal of reducing fossil-fuel usage and aims to prevent anymore nuclear plant closings due to indifference from state electricity markets.
NEI Vice President for Policy Development and Planning Richard Myers laments recent premature plant closures in New York, Vermont and elsewhere and attributes the moves to electricity markets failing to see the benefits nuclear power offers -- especially as a zero-carbon energy source.
“Preservation of existing nuclear power plants is essential to achieving meaningful, sustainable, long-term carbon reductions from the U.S. electric sector,” Myers said.
“The further loss of nuclear generating capacity would clearly seriously compromise the Clean Power Plan goals, under almost any set of assumptions and under any scenario.”
The letter encourages the EPA to give states the option to extend nuclear plant operations to meet carbon-reduction goals.
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