More voices come to the defense of Ohio’s H.B. 6 policyNuclear NewsPower & OperationsSeptember 8, 2020, 12:06PM|Nuclear News StaffDespite high-profile calls to repeal the scandal-tainted Ohio Clean Air Program Act (H.B. 6) and recent legislation crafted toward that end in both the Ohio House and Senate (66 of 99 House members have reportedly co-sponsored Democratic or Republican bills to repeal H.B. 6), the policy behind the measure continues to garner support.As reported here on August 26, the six commissioners from Ohio’s Lake and Ottawa counties—home to Davis-Besse and Perry, the two nuclear plants saved from early closure by H.B. 6—have made clear their opposition to an immediate repeal of the act.In addition, last week additional voices came to the defense of H.B. 6 policy, including:EklundGavaroneLawmakers: On September 2, Sens. Theresa Gavarone (R., 2nd District) and John Eklund (R., 18th District) issued a joint statement, declaring H.B. 6 to be good public policy. (Davis-Besse resides in Gavarone’s district, and Perry in Eklund’s.) “The two plants account for thousands of jobs, millions in funding for schools, emergency services, and libraries, as well as 90 percent of the carbon-free energy produced in our state,” the senators said. “The way of life for thousands of families would be decimated should any law be enacted that would repeal H.B. 6 without an adequate replacement.The senators noted that they are strong supporters of clean energy options as part of a balanced energy policy for Ohio and that the nuclear plants “generate 15 percent of Ohio’s electricity. Wind and solar represent a fraction of Ohio’s power grid (less than 2 percent), and it would be impossible at this time or in the near future for those technologies to make up the 15 percent gap in energy use if the nuclear plants are decommissioned. Repealing H.B. 6 without an immediate replacement would result in a significantly less diverse energy portfolio.”KorsnickIndustry: Also on September 2, Maria Korsnick, president and chief executive officer of the Nuclear Energy Institute, penned a guest column for cleveland.com, stating, “As we let the courts resolve the legal situation, we need to reconsider the policies, but we also need to be careful to think separately about bad tactics and good goals. We must not reverse our course to a carbon-free energy future. We must bear in mind that it’s going to be very hard to reach zero emissions by mid-century, as the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has deemed necessary.”Korsnick added, “This is especially true since we are likely to have to more than double electric production and replace the 60 percent of the existing system that is fossil-powered. We’ll need vast amounts of new solar and wind; we’ll need storage technologies like batteries to balance the grid over short periods; and we’ll need 24/7 clean technologies like nuclear to keep the system affordable and reliable over the longer term.”Korsnick stressed that state policies that recognize the value of carbon-free energy “are essential to launching us on the hard work of the next 30 years toward saving the climate and successfully completing an affordable and sustainable transition.”Tags:davis-besseh.b. 6korsnickneiperryShare:LinkedInTwitterFacebook
The year in review 2020: Power and OperationsHere is a look back at the top stories of 2020 from our Power and Operations section in Newswire and Nuclear News magazine. Remember to check back to Newswire soon for more top stories from 2020.Power and Operations section Defense Department invests in three microreactor designs: Three reactor developers got a boost on March 9 when they each were awarded a contract from the U.S. Department of Defense to design a reactor that can fit inside a standard shipping container for military deployment. Read more.Go to Article
Judge halts Energy Harbor nuclear subsidiesAn Ohio court has granted a preliminary injunction that blocks Energy Harbor from receiving the “nuclear generation fund” payments that were set to begin January 1 as part of H.B. 6—the scandal-tainted legislation at the center of an alleged multi-million dollar racketeering and corruption scheme aimed at guaranteeing its passage.Signed into law by Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine in July 2019, H.B. 6 established a seven-year program to charge the state’s electricity consumers fees to support payments of about $150 million annually to Energy Harbor, which had announced in March of the previous year that it would be forced to close the financially strapped Davis-Besse and Perry nuclear plants without some form of support from the state.Go to Article
Bill would delay subsidies for Ohio nuclear plantsNew legislation to address Ohio’s scandal-ridden nuclear subsidy bill, H.B. 6, was introduced in the state’s House of Representatives on December 1. Unlike the measures introduced earlier this year that sought to either fully or partially repeal the bill, H.B. 798 calls for delaying subsidies for the Davis-Besse and Perry nuclear plants by one year. (Currently, charges on ratepayers’ monthly electric bills are set to begin in January.) Cleveland.com has more on the story.Go to Article
Fallout from Ohio’s H.B. 6 scandal reaches FirstEnergy C suiteChuck Jones, former FirstEnergy CEOAkron, Ohio-based FirstEnergy Corporation—former parent of Energy Harbor, the owner of Ohio’s Davis-Besse and Perry nuclear plants—announced on October 29 that it has fired its chief executive officer, Charles “Chuck” Jones, as well as its senior vice president of product development, marketing, and branding and its senior vice president of external affairs.The actions, according to FirstEnergy, were prompted by an internal company review undertaken in response to the scandal surrounding H.B. 6—the now infamous legislation signed into law last year by Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine that includes subsidies for Davis-Besse and Perry and that is at the heart of an alleged multi-million dollar racketeering and corruption scheme aimed at guaranteeing its passage.In the announcement, FirstEnergy said only that its review “determined that these executives violated certain FirstEnergy policies and its code of conduct.” Replacing Jones is Steven E. Strah, who had been the firm’s president.Go to Article
NEI to help regenerate Romania’s nuclear sectorChiricaThe Nuclear Energy Institute and the Romanian Atomic Forum (Romatom) have signed a memorandum of understanding for cooperation in civil applications of nuclear energy, according to Romatom on October 14.The MOU was signed less than a week after the United States and Romania initialed a draft intergovernmental agreement for cooperation on the construction of two additional reactors at Romania’s Cernavoda nuclear power plant and the refurbishment of Unit 1. Cernavoda currently houses two operating reactors—Units 1 and 2, twin 650-MWe CANDU-6 pressurized heavy-water reactors.Maria Korsnick, NEI’s president and chief executive officer, and Teodor Chirica, Romatom’s honorary president, signed the MOU during a webinar on investment opportunities and the capabilities of the U.S. and Romanian nuclear industries. Also in attendance were Tommy Joyce, the U.S. Department of Energy’s deputy assistant secretary for global energy security and multilateral engagement, and Dan Dragan, secretary of state in the Romanian Ministry of Energy, Economy, and Business Environment.Go to Article
Special committee holds first hearing on H.B. 6Some two weeks after its creation, the Ohio House Select Committee on Energy Policy and Oversight held its first hearing on September 10 to consider a potential repeal of the Ohio Clean Air Program Act (H.B. 6). H.B. 6 is the sweeping energy law that includes subsidies for the state’s two nuclear power plants, Davis-Besse and Perry, and that is currently at the center of an alleged $61-million corruption scheme aimed at guaranteeing its passage.Newly elected Ohio House Speaker Bob Cupp (R., Dist. 4)—who replaced Rep. Larry Householder (R., Dist. 72) as speaker following the latter’s July 21 arrest as the scheme’s alleged ringleader—announced the committee’s creation in late August. Cupp stated that its goal is “repealing House Bill 6 and replacing it with thoughtful legislation Ohioans can have confidence in.”The committee’s initial hearing, however, focused only on efforts to immediately repeal the measure. Proponents of two repeal bills—one backed by Republicans (H.B. 746) and one by Democrats (H.B. 738)—argued their positions, with some displaying greater rhetorical gifts than others.Go to Article
Ohio counties oppose repealing H.B. 6 without a replacement billAll six commissioners from Ohio’s Lake and Ottawa counties—home to the Perry and Davis-Besse nuclear plants—joined forces last week to express their opposition to an immediate repeal of the Ohio Clean Air Program Act (H.B. 6), which was tainted by last month’s scandal involving former Ohio Speaker of the House Larry Householder and four associates.Signed into law by Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine in July last year—rescuing Perry and Davis-Besse from premature closure—H.B. 6 has become the subject of multiple calls for repeal since Householder’s July 21 arrest, including one from DeWine himself.Go to Article
Duke companies include advanced nuclear in plans to speed carbon reductionDuke Energy Progress and Duke Energy Carolinas have filed their 2020 Integrated Resource Plans (IRPs) with state regulators, parent company Duke Energy announced September 1.The plans outline a range of options to achieve varying levels of carbon reduction, including, for the first time, potential pathways to achieve up to 70 percent carbon-emission reduction through policy and technology advancements.Aggressive carbon-reduction targets are attainable, the company said, with investments in solar, wind, and energy storage, as well as with advanced nuclear, offshore wind, and other technologies “as they become available.” (Last September, Duke Energy declared its intention to seek subsequent license renewal for the 11 reactors it operates in six nuclear plants in the Carolinas [NN, Oct. 2019, p. 9].)Go to Article
UWC 2020: A call for transformational changeBowing to current COVID-19 realities but buoyed by the success of June’s virtual Annual Meeting, ANS event planners returned to the virtual realm for this year’s Utility Working Conference. Originally scheduled for August 9–12 at Marco Island, Fla., the condensed event was held Wednesday, August 11, wherever registrants’ computer devices happened to be located.In addition to 26 educational sessions and workshops, UWC 2020 featured an opening plenary session titled “Achieving Transformational Change: A leadership discussion,” moderated by Bob Coward, MPR Associates principal officer and ANS past president (2017–2018). Plenary panelists included representatives from three utilities—Arizona Public Service (APS), Exelon, and Xcel Energy—plus the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations (INPO) and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.In addition to coverage of the opening plenary further below, Newswire also covered other UWC sessions from the day, which are available for reading here:More from UWC 2020 Click hereMore from UWC 2020: Round 2 Click hereMore from UWC 2020: Round 3 Click hereThe opening plenary coverage starts directly below:Go to Article
Feds arrest Ohio lawmaker who pushed nuclear subsidy billHouseholderFederal prosecutors on July 21 arrested the Speaker of the Ohio House of Representatives, Larry Householder, and four lobbyists and political consultants for their involvement in an alleged $61-million corruption and racketeering scheme aimed at guaranteeing passage of H.B. 6, the Ohio Clean Air Program Act—the measure that rescued Ohio’s Davis-Besse and Perry nuclear power plants from premature closure. If convicted, Householder et al. face up to 20 years in prison.Go to Article