House Committee votes to bail out nuclear reactors
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today the House Ways and Means Committee voted to eliminate the placed in service date for the production tax credit for nuclear energy. This will ensure that Southern Company and its partners will receive the credit for the Vogtle Electric Generating Plant in Georgia, and SCANA Corporation and partners for the Virgil C. Summer Nuclear Generating Station in South Carolina, despite continued delays. It will also ensure that the credit is available for the construction of another reactor. The bill was introduced by Representative Tom Rice (R-S.C) and included four co-sponsors including Representative Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.).
Friends of the Earth’s Climate and Energy Program Director Ben Schreiber responded with the following statement:
The nuclear industry is incapable of building new reactors within budget or on time. The two reactors under construction at Vogtle have been plagued by billions of dollars of cost overruns, a constant litany of technical problems and mistakes, and a timeline for completion that just keeps stretching into the future. With catastrophic climate change staring us in the face, it is clear that continued efforts to save the nuclear industry are nothing less than a financial and technical distraction. This piece of radioactive pork is a disgrace, and Representative Blumenauer has let it contaminate his environmental record.
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Expert contact: Ben Schreiber, (202) 222-0752, [email protected]
Communications contact: Kate Colwell, (202) 222-0744, [email protected]