Monitoring Desk
ISLAMABAD/WASHINGTON: The Biden administration said that it is offering $1.2 billion to extend the life of distressed and closed nuclear power plants.
US President Joe Biden’s climate team believes nuclear power is the crucial source of virtually carbon-free electricity needed to reach his 100 per cent clean electricity target by 2035. Faced with increasing security costs, competition from wind and solar energy, and power generated with cheap natural gas, about a dozen nuclear plants have been closed since 2013, with 92 still functioning nationwide.
Radioactive waste stored at plants
Critics of nuclear power are worried about the buildup of radioactive waste stored at plants US and warn of the high risks to human health and nature. The latest funding comes from the $6 billion civil nuclear credit programme, created in 2021 and would be distributed by the Department of Energy (DOE).
In that second round of program funding, the money is available to plants at high risk of closure within a few years, but for the first time, plants stopped operating after November 15, 2021.
Jennifer Granholm, Energy Secretary, said that “expanding the scope of this… funding would allow more nuclear plants the opportunity to continue operating the economic drivers in local communities benefit from clean, cheap, and reliable power.”
