Forget 'Oppenheimer' -- nuclear power is having its moment in Washington

[NNadir]

Forget ‘Oppenheimer’ — nuclear power is having its moment in Washington

Subtitle:

The big wins for “Oppenheimer” at Sunday’s Academy Awards are not the only attention the nuclear industry has experienced in recent days.

Politico, By JAMES BIKALES and CATHERINE MOREHOUSE

03/11/2024 02:18 PM EDT

Some Excerpts:

Hollywood’s “Oppenheimer” dominated at the Oscars — renewing calls for reducing the threat of nuclear weapons worldwide — but a different kind of nuclear energy is gaining momentum in Washington.

Freshly passed legislation and new rules from the Biden administration are putting teeth behind a renewed bipartisan push for nuclear power, which has suffered major setbacks in recent decades despite advocates’ repeated predictions over the years that the industry was on the brink of a renaissance.

The bipartisan support for nuclear power in today’s divided Washington has been well-documented, especially given its potential importance as a carbon-free energy source that can aid the fight against climate change. But that hasn’t necessarily translated to concrete policy progress for an industry that has hit hurdle after hurdle...

... President Joe Biden on Friday signed into law the fiscal 2024 spending bill for the Energy Department and several other agencies, which includes $2.7 billion for DOE to boost domestic uranium production. The funding was a rare point of widespread agreement between Democrats and Republicans, and exceeds a request for $2.2 billion the White House made last year — using money repurposed from the bipartisan infrastructure law.

The funds are on top of new authorities for domestic uranium production that Congress provided in the Nuclear Fuel Security Act, which made it into last year’s National Defense Authorization Act. That law created new programs at DOE to provide incentives for production of the fuel — known as high-assay, low-enriched uranium — that will be critical for advanced reactors but is largely produced in Russia. DOE has moved quickly to implement the law, and on Friday moved to begin evaluating proposals for HALEU enrichment contracts...

Link to tweet
" target="_blank">A "tweet" from Energy Secretary Granholm:

I am bullish on the future of nuclear energy.

We are in a transformational moment where we can build advanced nuclear reactors at a pace and scale not seen since the 1970s.

Let's leverage
@POTUS
' once-in-a-generation investments and make 2024 a year of action for nuclear.

It is all "too little, too late," with respect to climate change, but it is our last, best hope to save what is left to save and perhaps restore some of what can be restored.

Enjoy the work week.

[eppur_se_muova]

1. This is what happens when our gov't is run by people who know that results are necessary, & that hot air doesn't count.

Doesn't it feel better to read a news item about this, rather than one about tfg promising a revival of the COAL industry ?? Or yet another "DRILL BABY DRILL" proclamation -- which tfg is doing again, despite record-setting petroleum production already (which hurts, not helps, in the long run) ??