$6 billion for old nukes?

On February 11, 2022, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) issued a press release full of false rhetoric, claiming that an injection of $6 billion under the Department’s Civil Nuclear Credit Program would end the shutdown of the country’s aging reactors because this has “led to an increase in carbon emissions in those regions, poorer air quality, and the loss of thousands of high-paying jobs.” 

Energy Secretary, Jennifer Granholm, (pictured), compounded that mythology by repeating the nuclear propaganda line, unfounded in empirical data, that “U.S. nuclear power plants are essential to achieving President Biden’s climate goals.” In reality, diverting such sums to shore up old plants will significantly hinder and damage Biden’s climate plans.

The press release announced the DOE’s release of a Notice of Intent (NOI) and Request for Information (RFI) on the implementation of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law’s $6 billion Civil Nuclear Credit Program. The funds are intended to “help avoid premature retirements” of aging reactors.The agency falsely claims this would preserve “thousands of good-paying clean energy jobs”. Instead, the $6 billion diverts support from genuine clean energy climate solutions such as renewables, which provide far more good-paying and sustainable jobs than nuclear.

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