Where Are The Pro-Nuclear Democrats?
Once again, nuclear energy is absent from the Democratic Party Platform and it's gone missing at the same time China is accelerating its nuclear buildout. Plus, radio and podcast hits.
Aug 21, 2024
Theodore Roosevelt knew how to use the bully pulpit. Photo: Wikipedia
About 15 years ago, I visited a high-ranking official at the Department of Energy at his office in Washington. We chatted for 30 minutes about the obstacles facing nuclear energy deployment in the US, including Nuclear Regulatory Commission regulations, supply chains, and the need for a stable fuel supply. Toward the end of our conversation, he said that one of the biggest problems with nuclear energy is that it needs bipartisan support in Congress. That hasn’t happened because “Democrats are pro-government and anti-nuclear,” he said. Meanwhile, “Republicans are pro-nuclear and anti-government.”
To be clear, Democrats have been more vocal recently in their support for nuclear energy. In June, during an appearance at the Plant Vogtle in Georgia, where two new 1-gigawatt nuclear reactors have come online, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said, “We have to at least triple our current nuclear capacity in this country.” Also in June, the Senate passed, by a vote of 88 to 2, the Accelerating Deployment of Versatile, Advanced Nuclear for Clean Energy (ADVANCE) Act, which aims to speed up the federal process for approving and deploying new reactors. (Ed Markey, the Democrat from Massachusetts, and Bernie Sanders, the Independent from Vermont, were the only senators to vote no on the measure.) Last month, President Biden signed that bill into law.
The passage of the ADVANCE Act (and Granholm’s rhetoric) will give a much-needed boost to the domestic nuclear sector. But don’t expect to hear the words “nuclear energy” during the final two days of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. Nor will you find a single mention of nuclear energy in the just-released Democratic Party Platform. Alas, this isn’t surprising.
https://robertbryce.substack.com/p/where-are-the-pro-nuclear-democrats
