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Sessions Challenges Nuclear Industry to “Get Busy”
WASHINGTON – In a major speech to nuclear regulators today, U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) challenged the nuclear industry to “get busy” producing more clean, low-cost electricity for America.
Sessions, delivering the keynote address at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s 20th annual conference in Bethesda, Maryland, told the crowd of more than 1,500 government officials and industry leaders that Americans want the affordable, safe and emission-free energy that only nuclear power can provide.
Sessions noted a number of congressional and governmental obstacles standing in the way of more nuclear power generation and discussed ways to overcome them.
“Our nation is now wrestling with the issues of greenhouse gases and high costs. People want progress on both fronts,” Sessions said. “They will not be happy, nor should they be, if our solution is a 65 percent increase in electricity costs in seven years as some studies suggest will happen. Nuclear power is our best source of clean, safe and affordable energy. Now is the time to expand production.”
Sessions told the audience that the political momentum on Capitol Hill may be moving toward a “monumental regulatory bill” that will include cap-and-trade schemes for carbon emissions. Sessions expressed his concerns about such legislation, saying “I am willing to do what makes sense with regard to carbon. Any energy legislation, and that includes global warming legislation, must include a strong nuclear component or we will never meet our goals.”
Sessions, highlighting the potential of the Bellefonte Nuclear facility in Scottsboro, Alabama, praised new efforts to deploy advanced nuclear power plants in the United States but lamented the complex regulatory process that hinders construction of new reactors.
“I think the biggest challenge is the length of time needed to see a significant increase in nuclear power production,” Sessions said. “Fifteen years is too long. This is not business as usual. Bold new policies are needed to usher in the nuclear renewal.”
The Tennessee Valley Authority mothballed the Bellefonte Nuclear Plant in 1988 after a $4 billion investment, leaving construction of the facility about 75 percent complete. Finishing the project, long a priority for Sessions, would provide more low-cost electricity for the entire Tennessee Valley. In 2005, the NuStart energy consortium selected Bellefonte as a potential site for one of the first advanced reactors built in the United States. An application for construction of the facility is now pending before the Commission.
Alabama is home to two operating nuclear power plants, Brown’s Ferry in Athens and Farley Nuclear in Dothan, which together produce about 25 percent of the electricity consumed in the state.
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