United States will have to focus on nuclear energy again

Nuclear power is an indispensable part of the Biden administration's plan to cut carbon dioxide emissions by 52 percent over the next decade, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said at the American Nuclear Society's annual general meeting. "President Biden is absolutely determined to bring clean energy to this country using every single clean energy tool available," said Secretary Granholm, as quoted by World Nuclear News, adding that "carbon-free nuclear power is an absolutely critical part our decarbonization equation. " Nuclear power has a very small carbon footprint, but a bad reputation has kept it outside the emissions reduction limelight. There have been demands from industry to include nuclear power in the energy transition plans, as experts argued that these plans will fail without nuclear power. Nevertheless, it has been a long time before politicians accept this fact, which makes Granholm's statement a rare glimmer of hope for the nuclear industry. Nuclear power has fallen increasingly out of favor in the US, not only because of reputational problems but also because of the abundance of cheap natural gas that has made many nuclear power plants more competitive and has led to the cancellation of plans to increase capacity. That could change with the ambitious climate agenda of the Biden administration. The first step, Minister Granholm said, is to maintain the country's existing nuclear power capacity, which generates one-fifth of total US electricity production. "The DOE is already working with the entire nuclear sector, including some of you. We work with you, and we work with you on projects to reduce operating costs and increase nuclear fleet revenues, and with that budget we put $ 175 million into this modernization effort, "she said. "Much of that goes into the development and use of new and improved fuels to increase performance and reduce costs. And we will continue to do everything we can to encourage our partners in the states to use their reactors to keep on the net. " At the same time, the government is researching new nuclear power technologies and has allocated about $ 700 million to unlock their "huge potential".