The Trump administration says it wants a ‘nuclear renaissance.’ These actions suggest otherwise.
In March, in Mudawi Editorial In Power Magazine, the commercial publication that covers the electricity industry, and the Republican Senate Marsha Blackburn and Bill Hajariti from Tennessee to President Donald Trump to make some major institutional changes in the Tennessee Valley Authority, the largest general benefit in America.
Two months ago, TVA CEO Jeff Layash announced his retirement. When the Board of Directors, whose seats were appointed by the President, Khalifa Layash, chose, they chose a person among the existing employees of the facilities – Don Mall, who has been the CEO and senior operational officials since 2021. Blackburn and immigrated my concern about directing the tool and leadership, saying that there is a need for a new direction if there is a need to move nuclear technology.
“Through the correct courageous leadership, TVA can lead the way to revive nuclear energy in our nation, enable us to control the global technology competition in the twenty -first century, and Trump’s President Trump’s inheritance as American nuclear president.”
“As now,” TVA members continued, and its leadership cannot bear the weight of this moment. “
BlackBurn and Hagerty called for replacement Moul, put forward the need to reformulate the painting of the painting, and demanded a stronger focus on the development of small normative nuclear reactors, which are Allegedly To be safer and easier to build and cheaper for operation than the larger nuclear factories, although only China and Russia have built SMRS so far.
“If we fail, as a nation, in the face of this moment,” they wrote, “The American leadership in artificial intelligence, quantum computing, advanced manufacturing, and the ability to win traditional wars will be at risk. If we choose leadership, the golden age lies in the future.”
About a week after the publication of the introduction, President Trump launched two members of the Board of Directors-including the president. It seemed as if the Senate members were getting what they wanted. But this step may end with reverse results.
Under its previous leadership, TVA was already moving towards the expansion of nuclear energy. During the Biden administration, which Nuclear description As a major component of it Carbon removal Plans, TVA has marketed itself as a clean energy leader, pointing to its huge fleet of electrical dams and nuclear plants. Lyash was a supporter of nuclear energy. He sat at the Board of Directors of the Nuclear Energy Institute and plans to build a new small normative reactor in the TVA area.
Now, though, according to Simon Mahan, Executive Director of the Southern Renewable Energy Association, recent changes may slow any movement towards new nuclear plants instead of reaching Blackburn and Hagerty Hope. The TVA Council works without the legal quorum it needs to make major decisions, including the election of the new chairman and approval of new energy projects – such as, for example, a nuclear factory.
“There are some real concerns that the TVA plan does not coincide with its implementation, and it will be difficult to synchronize this without a full workboard.”
Some observers say that such concerns relate to the inability to learn from the history of TVA.
“Tennessee has a long and troubled history when it comes to nuclear energy,” said Stephen Smith, director of the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, who opposes nuclear energy, preferring renewable energy sources as a cheaper and prolific option.
In the 1960s, about 30 years after the founding of TVA, she planned to build 17 nuclear power stations. Compared to private facilities, TVA looked like a normal seizure for the development of nuclear energy: it was easier for the general benefit to be exposed to the risk of long and costly construction periods without the need for immediate profit. But during the oil crisis in the 1970s and after the three -miles island disaster, political support for nuclear energy was dissipated. Seven of the plants that TVA planned only – three of them are active today. The utility continues to bear fruit Billions in debt From partially complete construction of reactors that did not simply come online.
Nuclear factories are very expensive for construction, they are risky investments for the private sector, and require huge trained operating bases and coordinating many players with different interests, including reactors, building companies, utilities, organizers and clients. For nuclear preachers, it is an open question whether the Trump administration’s energy officials are aware of the voltage-led voltage, which will be required to achieve their alleged ambition to revive a nuclear-until now, there are few indicators they make. Regardless of TVA employees’ problems, shooting at the Ministry of Energy Loan Programs Office and newly announced definitions of President Trump can also expand the expansion of nuclear plants in Tennessee and all over the country.
Despite the increasing political consensus of the two parties in favor of nuclear energy, only two new American factories have been built in the past three decades – two Westinghousese AP1000 reactions in Plant Vogtle in Georgia, which have been completed last yearAfter the long delay at a very huge cost, they contributed to the bankruptcy of their designers. A $ 9 billion project was abandoned in South Carolina to build a pair of the same reactors in 2017 before completing it. Several executives of the project were convicted of fraud and sent to prison.
The completion of the VOGLE expansion project has strengthened a belief among some defenders of nuclear weapons that the main obstacle to the nuclear construction may not be no longer the environmental regulations that many have considered for a long time the main barrier, but rather a problem in the decline in the American industrial capacity. Now that Vogly has been completed, some in the nuclear industry hope that the ingredients will be present to know this project and working forces to start similar projects in other states.
Costs, however, may still be very high. “I see many people who want to find a way to overcome the cost problem,” said John Parsons, the economist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who study investment in energy markets. But he suggested that stabilize hopes for a nuclear revival of the willingness of individual countries to bear the burden and risks of paying against another reactor that ignores the necessity of financing that the state drives and coordinates the type in which TVA can be in a particularly good position to manage it-if it is returned to its roots as a national incubator to innovate energy.
TVA Grist spokesman Scott Brooks told the agency’s plans for a new small units reactor moving forward. The utility plans to apply for additional funding for the project’s energy financing, and completes with special financing.
Among the main vehicles used by the Biden administration to bear the costs of nuclear investment – especially, including Billions of loan guarantees For the new reactors in Plant Vogtle – Loan Programs Office, or LPO was; During the Trump era, the employment is completed in this office. News port Heatmap mentioned About half of the LPO employees requested a acquisition in anticipation of the layoffs of future workers published by the Elon Musk initiative called the Ministry of Governmental efficiency.
In addition to the high costs of nuclear development, there are economic uncertainties caused by President Trump’s tariff, which is likely not to increase the costs of imported materials only such as steel, but also to invest in the private sector.
“We may move to an environment in which people are ashamed of investing in major infrastructure projects because there is a lot of uncertainty now about what the inputs will be for such a project,” said Emit Benny, Energy Researcher at the American Innovation Corporation, a right -wing research center.
“In this case, the fact that LPO can get long -term low -use loans for these projects will be vital to making people comfortable to reach the table and agree to build these projects,” Benny continued. “If there is no guarantee, we may see even private capital dry for both traditional nuclear weapons and small normative reactions.”
According to Bruks, TVA spokesperson, President Trump will not have the definitions much impact on the current operations of the utility. Bruks said that the majority of TVA’s economic activity, “local – most of them are from the Tennessee Valley.” He preferred not to speculate in the case of customs tariffs after a decade from now, when the first new SMRS is set from TVA.
But the development of nuclear power plants tends to require an international supply chain. Even if TVA is currently set, much of the nuclear supply chain is deeply linked to international markets. 2022 Report of the Ministry of Energy The links between the American nuclear industry and manufacturers appear in countries such as Japan, China, France and Germany. There is also a constant need for critical minerals, most of which are extracted outside the United States – China again from the dominant suppliers. Uranium and a large number of critical minerals may be Exempt From Trump’s tariff now, but other materials, such as basic construction components such as steel, is not.
Aftyn Behn, a democratic, supports the diversification of the facilities portfolio, but looking towards the future, is more concerned about transparency and accountability.
“There is some attention from the two parties in the“ advanced nuclear ”. But she continued, saying:“ The superior generations are not interested in discussing good energy. They are interested in delivering TVA to large facilities and fossil fuel, and they reserve us to uninterrupted systems without any general supervision. “
