Customers would pay millions to rescue Pa. nuclear reactors, including some that are already profit-
Customers would pay millions to rescue Pa. nuclear reactors, including some that are already profitable
Pennsylvania electric customers would pay hundreds of millions of dollars a year in subsidies to the states nuclear industry about $5 more per month for a typical household, by one estimate under a draft nuclear rescue bill widely circulated in Harrisburg.
The long-awaited legislation, which proponents say is still undergoing revisions before it is formally unveiled, would direct a massive infusion of ratepayer funds to the states nine reactors. The owners of three reactors have announced their imminent retirement if they do not receive subsidies that they say would put the plants on equal footing with other zero-emission power generators, such as wind and solar.
But some of the states reactors are not in immediate danger of closure. The states most profitable nuclear plant, the twin-unit Limerick Generating Station in Montgomery County, is projected to earn hundreds of millions of dollars in the next few years, without a subsidy.
Supporters say the proposal would correct market flaws by including nuclear energy into the states 2004 Alternative Energy Portfolio Standards Act (AEPS), which mandates that 18 percent of all power sold in the state be derived from alternative energy sources by 2021. The draft proposal would create a new category of zero-emission power reserved largely for nuclear producers, that would supply 50 percent of the states electricity demand.
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