Dramatic increases in electricity costs over the past four years as a result of the Biden-Harris administration’s energy policies may be sparking a resurgence in nuclear power generation.
As The Wall Street Journal reported this week, the Palisades nuclear plant in Covert, Michigan, is set to become the first nuclear plant in the world to reopen after beginning the decommissioning process. The plant was shuttered in 2022 but is now expected to be back online by October of next year.
The renewed interest in nuclear is being driven in large part by the fact that consumer electricity prices have spiked nearly 30 percent since Biden and Harris took office – a direct result of “Net Zero” policies and a coordinated regulatory war on domestic oil and natural gas production. In some parts of the country, electricity prices could rise by 20 percent or more next year alone without a change in policy.
Natural gas prices have increased even faster, rising nearly 70 percent between January of 2021 and 2023. Although prices have eased since then, they are still more than 35 percent higher than when Biden took office.
On his first day as president, Biden took a string of actions devastating the American oil and gas sector, including canceling the Keystone XL pipeline and halting new oil and gas leases on federal lands and waters. Biden and Harris have also embraced Democrats’ war on the coal industry. In the first quarter of 2024, the U.S. produced just 129.9 million short tons of coal, about a 13 percent decrease year-over-year from 2023.
Recognizing the potential crisis scenario the country could be facing, former President Donald Trump has made “unleashing American energy” a pillar of his 2024 campaign. Trump has specifically pledged to “unleash energy production from all sources, including nuclear, to immediately slash inflation and power American homes, cars, and factories with reliable, abundant, and affordable energy.”
That plan has a chance to be a big winner with voters – not just Republicans. According to a new poll out this week, nearly half of Democrats favor expanding nuclear energy throughout the country. While Democrat politicians have historically opposed nuclear energy in favor of unreliable wind and solar, many of their voters appear to be open to Trump’s plan.
“American consumers fully grasp the impact of radical climate policies on the U.S. economy,” Professor Fergus Lütenmaier, an advisor at the Nuclear Energy Agency in the late 1980s, told me. “The low energy prices during Trump’s first term should serve as a litmus test for every administration’s energy policy. Under Biden, Americans’ jobs and household finances are under threat.”
Economics professor Masao Takushima, who advised former Japanese Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone on energy and industrial policies, told me that the facts are clear: “Green energy cannot replace fossil fuels for the foreseeable future, certainly not in even 20-30 years.”
“Unsustainable renewables,” he warned, “will further damage the U.S. economy.” Trump’s commitment to nuclear, along with reviving the U.S. oil and gas industry, has a chance to save it.
Trump’s first term saw a number of noteworthy achievements in nuclear energy, including breaking ground on the nation’s first small modular reactor (SMR).
SMRs are designed to be smaller in size and power output compared to traditional nuclear reactors. Their modular design allows for factory assembly, after which the parts can be transported to the installation site, making them significantly easier and faster to construct.
This modularity also means that multiple SMRs can be combined to meet the energy needs of a particular location, offering flexibility in deployment and scalability.
SMRs are designed with advanced safety features, often incorporating passive safety systems that require little or no human intervention in case of an emergency. This makes them a safer and more cost-effective option for expanding nuclear energy, particularly in remote or smaller communities that don’t need the large-scale energy output of traditional reactors.
According to British researchers, who are also pioneering the technology, a fleet of small reactors could “boost industrial strategy, create thousands of high-skilled, well-paid jobs and could contribute approximately 15 percent more value to the U.K. economy.” The consensus among the experts I interviewed for this column is clear: the U.S. should prioritize investment in these affordable and safe reactors.
Nevertheless, SMR technology is still in its infancy, and the country will still need significant energy from fossil fuels. “An energy mix that includes various inexpensive sources is crucial for energy security and reliability,” Professor Takushima told me.
If Trump emerges victorious this November, it could supercharge the nuclear energy revival that is already beginning to take shape. Add to this Trump’s commitment to making the United States the world’s top oil and gas producer again, and Americans may soon be spending a lot less to keep the lights on.
Ben Solis is the pen name of an international affairs journalist, historian, and researcher.
