Glasgow, Scotland — In an interview at the United Nations Climate Change Conference, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm told Yahoo News on Friday that the Biden administration was “very bullish” about building a new reactor in the United States.
“We are very bullish on these advanced reactors,” she said. “In fact, we have invested heavily in their R & D. We are very supportive of it.”
Nuclear energy is controversial among environmental activists and experts as it does not cause greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change, but it can cause dangerous nuclear meltdowns and produce radioactive nuclear waste. I’m brewing.
Most of the Biden administration’s efforts to reduce its reliance on fossil fuels, and almost all rhetoric at the Climate Change Conference, also known as COP26, are about promoting other clean energies such as wind and solar energy.
However, Granholm pointed out that wind and solar still cannot generate “base load” capacity. This means you can be confident that you will have more power to meet your demand, even when the wind isn’t blowing or the sun isn’t shining.
“Half of the current US clean power-when I say” clean, “I’m talking about zero net carbon emissions-is through nuclear power plants,” she observed. “If you look at the overall power, that’s about 20 percent. Globally, 29 percent of clean power is nuclear.”
Granholm suggested that there is no longer a significant risk of a nuclear meltdown, as in the infamous past accidents at Three Mile Island, Chernobyl and Fukushima.
“These advanced reactors and existing reactors are safe,” she said. “The United States has a regulatory gold standard.
“And they are base load power,” she continued. “The Holy Grail is to identify clean baseload power …. Nuclear power is dispatchable and clean baseload power, so we want to be able to deliver more power.”
Another objection from critics to the construction of a new reactor is that doing so costs more than competing forms of energy, and subsidies for it will be used more often for renewable energy. .. Granholm tackled the objection head-on, without even being asked about it. She argued that the new technology for small modular reactors would be more affordable than the huge old giants.
“Now the kick is that it’s expensive, nuclear power is more expensive, and so we want to make sure these smaller modular reactors are cheaper,” Granholm said. I did.
“Some are in some sort of pilot demonstration mode,” she added. “For example, TerraPower, Wyoming, has installed a small, advanced nuclear reactor next to a retired coal-fired power plant, and it makes perfect sense because the infrastructure is there to carry away power. And the coal mine workers who worked at the factory are now working at the new facility, so we are excited about nuclear power. “
Earlier this year, Department of Energy Announced investment in nuclear research And development, but recently it has begun to move in earnest to strengthen the US claim on climate change leadership over COP26.
This week we’re launching a series of new programs, including initiatives to improve clean energy truck technology, initiatives to reduce the cost of removing carbon from the atmosphere, and how to use US research capabilities to advise other countries. Deployed. Build a clean energy economy.
Granholm is working with foreign government ministers, business leaders, and White House colleagues, including John Kerry, Presidential Special Envoy for Climate Change, who heads the U.S. Negotiations Team in Glasgow, on these and other programs to combat climate change. He spoke at a series of whirlwind events to advertise.
Both Kelly and Granholm frequently mention President Biden’s Buildback Better Agenda in public this week to reduce US greenhouse gas emissions over the next decade, primarily through programs that promote clean energy. Spent hundreds of billions of dollars.
Last month, Democrats in Congress, including Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, argued that the agenda was in time to support the prospect of reaching an ambitious global agreement to combat Glasgow’s climate change.
However, Congress has not passed a budget adjustment package that includes most of those provisions. Kelly told Yahoo News earlier this week that this wouldn’t hurt the United States at the Climate Change Conference. Granholm just said he thought the package would pass.
“Here, the countries participating in the COP have uniformly stated that they are very pleased that the United States is committed to the goals stated by the President, including 100% clean electricity by 2035. “Granholm said. “They know that the president is really working hard to achieve this through Congress.”
Granholm further said the House of Representatives was expected to vote for the infrastructure bill that accompanies the larger budget bill that night.
“The bottom line is that the president is very confident that he has votes to pass it in both the House of Representatives and the Senate. We are excited to do that. [it], “She said.
Biden’s climate agenda serves to overturn the policies of former President Donald Trump. Similarly, the Trump administration has revoked some of the Obama administration’s executive branches on climate change.
When asked by Yahoo News how to guarantee foreign counterparts that the United States is still committed, Granholm said, “The policies you have implemented will not be amended by future Congress. I can’t be sure. ” A long-term clean energy policy pursued by the Biden administration.
“But if, for example, the demonstration projects and technologies we’re talking about can be prepared in the field, it’s much harder to eradicate,” she continued.
“Our hair should be burning because the earth is burning, but we actually need to put them on the ground, raise the solar panels, and add the renewable energy capacity we have to do. Grid investment.
“We’re going to do it all with steroids,” she concludes.