New Report: How—and Why—to Reverse the Decline in Nuclear Energy

New York, NY  — After decades of growth, America’s nuclear-energy sector is now facing the possibility of significant decline. A new study by the Manhattan Institute’s Robert Bryce examines the current trends in U.S. nuclear power and the factors hampering its revival. 

Nuclear reactors provide more than 60 percent of the country’s low-carbon electricity and have many advantages over renewable energy forms like solar and wind. Bryce argues that if the U.S. is serious about reducing greenhouse gas emissions, Congress will have to facilitate the research and development of new reactor designs and streamline the process for permitting and siting those new reactors. Other key points include:

• Over the next half-decade, about 10 gigawatts of U.S. nuclear capacity may be shut down due to economic and regulatory pressures.
• Matching the low-carbon electricity output from that same 10 gigawatts of nuclear capacity with solar energy would require installing twice as much solar capacity as now exists in Germany, or about 1.5 times as much wind capacity as now exists in Spain.
• President Obama's newly-unveiled Clean Power Plan for cutting emissions does not provide any incentives to keep existing reactors in operation.
• If a significant number of domestic reactors are shut down, the emissions-reductions goals of the Clean Power Plan may not be obtainable.

Bryce attributes the decline of nuclear power to several factors, including the high cost of new reactors, the low price of natural gas, subsidized renewable energy which distorts pricing in the wholesale electricity market, and the increasing regulatory burden on existing reactors. He asserts that if the U.S. is to continue leading the world in nuclear energy, the federal government will have to resolve the decades-long issue of nuclear waste. Congress will have to provide funding for a facility that will allow nuclear-startups to test their reactor designs and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission will have to provide better support for the development of new reactors including SMR’s, or small modular reactors.

Click here to read the full report.