Legislators look into nuclear reactors; advocates concerned

Yahoo

16-02-2025

ANDERSON — A trio of bills working their way through the Indiana General Assembly are designed to bolster the production and eventual use of small modular reactors, a carbon-free means of generating electricity.
But some of the particulars of the legislation are prompting concerns from environmental advocates.
House Bill 1007, authored by Rep. Ed Soliday, R-Valparaiso, provides tax credits to manufacturers of small modular reactors, or SMRs. The factory-built form of nuclear reactor is capable of producing at least 300 megawatts of electricity.
Two other bills, Senate Bills 423 and 424, would start an SMR pilot program in which utility companies could collaborate with 'eligible partners' to develop SMR sites and allow utility companies to request that the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission shoulder at least some of the project costs.
Both bills passed the Senate last week and were set for consideration by the House; HB 1007 passed the House Ways and Means Committee.
'Our goal in this ongoing endeavor is keep Indiana competitive in the national and world marketplace by keeping our five foundational energy pillars — reliability, affordability, resilient, stability and environmental sustainability — in balance,' Soliday, who chairs the House Utilities Committee, told the Indiana Capital Chronicle.
Sam Carpenter, executive director of the Hoosier Environmental Council, believes that goal is more of a dream than a reality.
SMRs, unlike other forms of clean energy such as wind and solar, are unprecedented, Carpenter said, noting that no utility-based SMR sites are currently in operation in the United States.
'Costs are going to be high for the next 10 to 20 years,' he said. 'We don't think that rate payers should pay for the permitting, the planning, the development costs — which will be possible should these bills pass — associated with unproven technology.'
Carpenter's sentiments were echoed in a feasibility study published in 2023 by Purdue University and Duke Energy. One of the study's conclusions was that the lack of sites make estimating costs difficult.
The issue of costs is especially worrisome to Carpenter, who noted that several attempts to produce SMRs have been abandoned due to high costs.
In 2023, Utah Associated Muncipal Power Systems abandoned its SMR power plant project after costs reached $9.3 billion.
Kati Austgen, senior project manager of the new nuclear sector of the Nuclear Energy Institute, noted that costs could be halved through a federal investment tax credit among other funding avenues.
SMRs can also be installed in existing facilities like retired coal power plants, though installing the infrastructure could take a number of years.
Carpenter fears that the state's latest push will disproportionately impact the average ratepayer. Companies like Tesla or Rolls Royce should be worried about funding SMRs, not the Legislature, he said.
Austgen said rate payers will be impacted to some degree or another.
'The ratepayers do (typically) pay a portion of the cost,' she said.
Carpenter recommended that Indiana prioritize solar and wind, which he believes are proven and comparatively inexpensive.
Austgen suggested a mixed energy portfolio for Indiana. She said multiple studies have shown that the cost of nuclear energy is on par with the cost of renewables, provided that certain conditions are met.
'In order for renewables to be considered firm and available at all times, they have to be paired with battery backup or storage. It needs to be long duration storage,' Austgen said.
'Some of that battery technology, storage technology is also unproven and still in development.'
SMRs also raise safety concerns for environmental advocates like Carpenter, who noted that nuclear plants can be prone to meltdowns.
Nuclear meltdowns occur when a reactor's fuel rods overheat and eventually become exposed to the open air. These reactors rely on radioactive materials to generate electricity.
Such materials, if left in the open, can be harmful to humans. Most nuclear reactors use uranium, a radioactive element associated with diseases such as kidney disease, cancer and, in some cases, birth defects.
'If we have SMRs around Indiana, we have all those targets or potential liabilities,' Carpenter said.
Austgen said reactors' safety features have improved and will continue to improve over time, hopefully resulting in fewer accidents.
She noted that nuclear sites are of special interest to the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which monitors power plants and makes sure safety requirements are met.
'We (the nuclear industry) ensure that for the health and safety of our employees as well as our communities that we are continuously monitoring and containing any radiation,' Austgen said.
'The public health and safety limits are set such that no one gets any radiation from living near a nuclear power plant.'