NEI defends eligibility of existing nuclear for clean hydrogen tax credits

May 26, 2023, 7:00AMANS Nuclear Cafe

The Nuclear Energy Institute—along with Constellation, Energy Harbor, PSEG, and Vistra—submitted a 19-page letter on May 24 to the Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service, taking issue with April 10 comments to those agencies from the Clean Air Task Force (CATF) and Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) concerning the Inflation Reduction Act’s clean hydrogen production tax credit (Internal Revenue Code sec. 45V). (The Treasury and the IRS released a notice last November requesting public input on the credit’s implementation.)

In its letter, NEI and authors argue against CATF/NRDC’s call for an “additionality” requirement, which would effectively render existing nuclear facilities ineligible for credits. “An ‘additionality’ requirement to disqualify existing producers of zero-emissions electricity is inconsistent with the statute,” the letter states. “Congress clearly intended for electricity generated by existing nuclear plants to produce hydrogen, as the IRA explicitly links eligibility for the Section 45V tax credit with the Section 45U [zero-emission nuclear power production] tax credit that is available only to existing nuclear plants.”

The CATF/NRDC comments can be found here.


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