CONGRESSIONAL LETTER: The Breakthrough Institute Urges Congress to Include Nuclear in New Federal Tax Credit

Berkeley, Calif. — Today, the Breakthrough Institute’s Sr. Energy Analyst, Jameson McBride, and Sr. Nuclear Analyst, Dr. Adam Stein sent a letter to Rep. Nancy Pelosi, Sen. Chuck Schumer, Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, and Sen. Joe Manchin urging Congress to expand federal tax credits for clean energy to include advanced nuclear energy.

Jameson and Dr. Stein write that “since advanced nuclear is an earlier-stage technology than wind, solar, and hydropower, federal tax credit support could have an especially large impact in kick-starting its growth. Advanced nuclear is particularly valuable to a grid that is dominated by renewables like wind and solar, by providing firm, clean, dispatchable power to balance out the variability and unpredictability from other sources.”

The letter says that excluding advanced nuclear energy from the federal tax credits for clean energy is misaligned with President Biden’s energy policy objective to reduce emissions and support high-quality American jobs. One of the key principles behind other proposed policies, like the Clean Electricity Performance Program, is to be technology-neutral as long as it reduces emissions and creates jobs, both of which advanced nuclear energy does.

“At present, there is an advanced nuclear PTC of $0.018 per kWh in place under 45J, capped at 6 GW of capacity and only available for the first 8 years of operation. Approximately 2.2 GW of this capacity is currently under construction at Plant Vogtle in Georgia, which means the tax credit only covers the next 3.8 GW of advanced nuclear capacity. This is equivalent to only a 4% increase in installed nuclear capacity in the US. In contrast, leading studies have indicated that as much as 200-300% increase in nuclear capacity may be necessary to reach a net-zero US energy system rapidly at low cost.”

If Congress is fully committed to their ambitious decarbonization goals, then including advanced nuclear energy in their Clean Electricity Performance Program would signal that to Americans as well as foreign allies.

The letter was sent to:

Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi
Speaker the House
U.S. House of Representatives

Senator Chuck Schumer
Majority Leader
U.S. Senate

Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson
Chairwoman
Committee on Science, Space, and Technology
U.S. House of Representatives

Senator Joe Manchin
Chairman
U.S. Senate
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources

The following list are members that were CC’ed

Congressman Kevin McCarthy
House Minority Leader
U.S. House of Representatives

Senator Mitch McConnell
Senate Minority Leader
U.S. Senate

Congressman Frank Lucas
Ranking Member
Committee on Science, Space, and Technology
U.S. House of Representatives

Senator John Barrasso
Ranking Member
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources
U.S. Senate

Secretary of the Department of Energy Jennifer Granholm