“This proposal would help secure America’s clean energy future by investing in nuclear power, but if Congress doesn’t act quickly, more plants could shutter their doors prematurely,” the group states in its July 13 request to the community. “Premature closures sacrifice thousands of jobs and millions of dollars in tax revenue, increase our dependence on foreign energy sources and our vulnerability to foreign energy market shocks, and represent significant steps backward in our path to a cleaner, brighter future.”
In case you missed it: In the House on June 21, Rep. Bill Pascrell (D., N.J.) introduced the bipartisan H.R. 4024, and on June 24, Sen. Ben Cardin (D., Md.) introduced the Senate’s version, S. 2291.
The legislation would make existing merchant nuclear plant owners/operators eligible for the same 1.5 cent/kilowatt-hour ($15/megawatt-hour credit) already available to wind operators.
Current tax law provides a production tax credit for eligible nuclear power facilities only during the first eight years of operations. There is no tax credit for older nuclear plants. The proposed credit would be phased out if market revenues reach 2.5 cents/kilowatt-hour ($25/megawatt-hour), if greenhouse gas emissions drop 50 percent from 2020 levels, or after 10 years.
