White House Embraces Nuclear, Makes Biggest Push In Five Decades For Clean Atomic Power 

The Biden administration is finally taking significant steps to revitalize America’s nuclear power industry, a move likely to upset radical leftist environmentalists funded by shady non-governmental organizations. The administration recognizes that nuclear power is critical to reaching 100% reliable carbon pollution-free electricity by 2035 rather than relying solely on unreliable solar and wind energy sources for the power grid (after all, AI data centers need reliable power). This nuclear renaissance has been a ZH theme for several years. 

“Alongside renewable power sources like wind and solar, a new generation of nuclear reactors is now capturing the attention of a wide range of stakeholders for nuclear energy’s ability to produce clean, reliable energy and meet the needs of a fast-growing economy, driven by President Biden’s Investing in America agenda and manufacturing boom,” the White House wrote in a statement.

The statement continued, “The Administration recognizes that decarbonizing our power system, which accounts for a quarter of all the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions, represents a pivotal challenge requiring all the expertise and ingenuity our nation can deliver.” 

Today’s big news is that the White House created a new working group, the “Nuclear Power Project Management and Delivery.” 

Here’s more on the working group’s tasks to rebuild the nation’s atomic power infrastructure:

To help drive reactor deployment while ensuring ratepayers and project stakeholders are better protected, the administration is announcing today the creation of a Nuclear Power Project Management and Delivery working group that will draw on leading experts from across the nuclear and megaproject construction industry to help identify opportunities to proactively mitigate sources of cost and schedule overrun risk.

Working group members will be made up of federal government entities, including the White House Office of Domestic Climate Policy, the White House Office of Clean Energy Innovation & Implementation, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, and the Department of Energy. 

The working group will engage a range of stakeholders, including project developers, engineering, procurement and construction firms, utilities, investors, labor organizations, academics, and NGOs, which will each offer individual views on how to help further the administration’s goal of delivering an efficient and cost-effective deployment of clean, reliable nuclear energy and ensuring that learnings translate to cost savings for future construction and deployment. 

Here are several projects already underway that the federal government is attempting to reverse the tide of plant closures in recent decades:

The Palisades nuclear plant in Michigan would be the first U.S. nuclear plant to restart after shutting down.  It is supported by a $1.5 billion conditional loan commitment from the DOE Loan Programs Office to Holtec Palisades, LLC, to finance the restoration and resumption of service for an 800 MW nuclear generation station in Covert Township, Michigan. The project aims to bring back online the Palisades Nuclear Plant and upgrade it to produce clean, baseload power through at least 2050.

Diablo Canyon in California is leveraging DOE’s Civil Nuclear Credit program to fund the plant’s life extension.

The Inflation Reduction Act created a production tax credit (Internal Revenue Code (IRC) section 45U) for existing nuclear plants, giving them more economic security to keep operating.

Bloomberg provides an infographic showing the latest plant closures and or shelved projects that can be restarted or finished.

Source: Bloomberg

With the revitalization of the Palisades nuclear plant and the recent commercialization of two new nuclear reactors in Georgia, we have come to understand, as explained in the note titled “Buy Uranium: Is This The Beginning Of The Next ESG Craze,” that a nuclear renaissance in America is only just beginning. More recently, we explained this in “The Next AI Trade.”

Uranium stocks have soared since we pushed out the theme on Dec. 5, 2020. 

As well as spot uranium prices. 

“Taken together, these actions represent the largest sustained push to accelerate civil nuclear deployment in the United States in nearly five decades,” the White House concluded.