Patty Durand: Nuclear power: A step backward for North Carolina - Winston-Salem Journal

Patty Durand: Nuclear power: A step backward for North Carolina

In a recent Winston-Salem Journal article, we learned that North Carolina’s legislature overrode a veto by Gov. Roy Cooper on energy legislation that changed how the state views nuclear energy. This override allows Duke Energy to pursue nuclear energy as part of North Carolina’s state-mandated efforts to reduce CO2 emissions. Duke officials have stated their intent to pursue building small modular reactors (SMRs) at their Belews Creek facility.

Energy is complicated and people can be easily confused or manipulated about the best path forward for rapidly reducing carbon emissions. In Georgia, claims were made repeatedly in the lead-up to Plant Vogtle that our new reactor technology, the AP1000, would mean Plant Vogtle would be “on time and on budget.”

As I write, Plant Vogtle is the most expensive power plant ever built on Earth. At $35 billion, this extreme cost was never mentioned as a possibility. Indeed, quite the opposite.

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But what about SMRs? Won’t they be different? Small modular reactors are a proposed class of nuclear reactors, smaller than conventional nuclear reactors, which can be built in one location, then shipped, commissioned and operated at a separate site. Instead of a traditional 1,000-megawatt reactor, a small modular reactor is only 300 megawatts.

It is difficult to know whether this technology will be successful since it does not yet exist, but what is certain is that there is an extensive history of corruption in the nuclear industry, most recently in Ohio, where former House Speaker Larry Householder was sentenced to 20 years in prison for leading a racketeering conspiracy for a billion-dollar nuclear plant bailout. This follows nuclear scandals in South Carolina and Illinois, where utility executives or legislators went to jail or paid hundreds of millions in fines for lying and bribery. Nuclear power delivers huge profits, but it is complicated, and risks are almost always transferred to utility customers. These factors often lead to scandal.

SMRs are already stumbling with new delays delivering the technology and recent news reports that costs have escalated to more than $100/MWh, or megawatt hours. Meanwhile, solar and wind energy, including battery storage, is just $30/MWh.

But don’t we need nuclear to decarbonize the grid and/or handle future growth? Dozens of studies model a path to a zero-carbon grid without any expansion of nuclear power, including ones from Stanford University and the highly credible RMI, a nonprofit whose mission is decarbonizing energy systems. And not just studies: Many U.S. states and countries around the world have high amounts of renewable energy servicing their grid. Washington, Oregon, Idaho and South Dakota produced more than 60% of their electricity from renewables last year, and 10 countries generated 60 to 90% of their electricity from renewables in 2022 (Scotland, Iceland, Netherlands, Germany, Guatemala among others).

We know that high amounts of intermittent renewables can be integrated into the grid as seen above. Data analytics and digital applications allow for high levels of renewables to be delivered in ways never before possible, but many people don’t know it.

These are exciting times in the energy transition. Things like heat pumps, electric water heaters, smart connected devices, rooftop solar and vehicle-to-grid EV battery storage are ways regular people can be engaged with local energy solutions and compensated for doing so. Community solar reduces bills for renters and ensures that everyone benefits from the energy transition.

With the right price signals, electric vehicles in the coming EV boom can charge overnight when power is cheap and most vehicles sit around unused, thus improving the low 40% utilization rate of North Carolina’s grid. Growing electricity needs can be met in numerous ways such as programs that support and encourage businesses to put solar panels on their roofs; pursuing offshore wind energy and virtual power plants; and fully utilizing advancements in energy efficiency and demand response.

These solutions are not as profitable to incumbent utilities, which make big profits building new-generation, especially nuclear power. But electricity is an essential service, and the energy transition must be affordable. Nuclear just isn’t.

Only the widespread use of digital technologies, renewable energy solutions and grid-edge services will create the affordable grid that North Carolinians deserve.