Nuclear Industry Details Requests for Senate Energy Legislation

The Nuclear Energy Institute has called on the Senate to include in its climate change and energy legislation more tax incentives, a streamlined regulatory process, and $100 billion in additional loan guarantee authority, E&E News PM reported. Alex Flint, NEI senior VP for governmental affairs, was quoted as saying: "We think a consensus is beginning to develop in Washington that nuclear incentives must be in climate legislation." Flint added the nuclear title in the legislation proposed by Sens. John Kerry, D-Mass., and Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., was a positive sign.

NEI wants $100 billion in loan guarantees for clean energy technologies under a Clean Energy Deployment Administration to be added to the $111 billion Congress has already authorized. The trade association asked for "an extension of the production tax credits for new nuclear reactors through 2025; removal of the 6,000 MW limitation for those credits; a 30 percent investment tax credit or a grant in lieu of the production tax credit; tax credits for new or expanded manufacturing and worker training; and the reduction or elimination of tariffs on nuclear components under certain conditions," the Dallas Morning News wrote. NEI did not put forward any specifics on nuclear waste, but a demand for a more efficient licensing and construction process was on the list.

The Union of Concerned Scientists' Edwin Lyman said it would be dangerous and unnecessary for Congress to dictate regulatory requirements for the NRC. He was quoted as saying: "A lot of these [suggestions] are really technically based issues, and we just don't think the regulatory agency should have its ability to make inquiries limited in scope. You have to trust the agency to make its own decision about what is significant."
- E&E News PM, Oct. 26.