Inside a cooling tower at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine. Photo by Mick De Paola on unsplash.com

Though the U.S. produces more than half of its electricity from fossil fuels, it is also the biggest nuclear generating country in the world.

As of May 2022, there are 54 commercially operating nuclear power plants housing 92 reactors in 28 U.S. states.

According to the U.S Energy Information Administration, last year there was about 4.24 trillion kilowatt-hours generated at utility-scale generation facilities. About 18% of that load comes from nuclear energy.

One kilowatt-hour of electricity is enough to watch television for 10 hours, vacuum for one hour or wash 12 pounds of laundry.

In December, Assemblymember Devon Mathis (R-Visalia) introduced AB 65, the California Energy Independence Act. The bill with bipartisan support would’ve authorized the use of small modular reactors (SMRs) in the Golden State.

The bill was rejected by the Assembly Natural Resources Committee.

Mathis said he authored the bill because nuclear energy holds promise in reducing energy costs for struggling families while eliminating carbon emissions.

He said AB 65’s bipartisan support illustrates greater awareness of the environmental issues facing energy production.

“For the bill to have bipartisan support, it means that promoting advanced nuclear has a greater chance of becoming a reality in our state. It shows that despite all the differences that Republicans and Democrats may have with each other, we can agree on the need to deliver affordable & clean energy to working families,” Mathis said.

He believes it was rejected by the committee because nuclear power has become synonymous with power plant meltdowns such as Chernobyl and Fukushima.

The bill’s coauthors were Assemblymembers Joaquin Arambula (D-Fresno) and Josh Hoover (R-Rancho Cordova).

A spokesperson said Arambula was not available to comment on his support of AB 65.

SMRs are smaller, more advanced nuclear reactors that have a power capacity of up to 300 megawatts per unit — about one-third of the generating capacity of traditional nuclear power reactors.

SMR systems and components can be factory-assembled and transported to a facility for installation, reducing costs dramatically.

California currently has a moratorium on certifying nuclear fission thermal power plants as a permitted land use unless certain technology, construction, operation and disposal conditions are met.

No nuclear power plants have been built in the Golden State in more than 40 years.

AB 65 would have exempted SMRs from these provisions.

The Diablo Canyon Power Plant near Avila Beach is the only operational nuclear power plant in California since the permanent shutdown of the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station in 2013.

AB 65 isn’t the only attempt for new nuclear power generation to come out of the Central Valley in recent memory.

In 2006, John Hutson co-founded the Fresno Nuclear Energy Group with business and farming interests to promote the development of a nuclear power station on Fresno County’s west side.

By 2009, the group had teamed up with French nuclear engineering firm Areva to build up to two nuclear power plants in the county.

Hutson said the Fresno plant could have been used for nuclear desalination — clearing water of salt with the use of a nuclear reactor. The water could have been used for farm irrigation.

The group sent out surveys revealing that residents and local politicians were fearful of nuclear power plants and had a “not in my backyard” type of reaction.

“They just don’t understand it. Nobody senses that anybody knows anything, is going to do anything, and they don’t want to be the first,” Hutson said in an interview this week.

A major concern around nuclear plants in drought-stricken California is water for cooling, but there are different methods utilized. Molten Salt Reactors use molten fluoride salts as a primary coolant, but the corrosive nature of the chemicals present in the fluid can lead to problems with material degradation.

Nuclear waste can be recycled and used in the plant again. France recycles about 95% of its nuclear waste.

U.S. nuclear power plants do not currently recycle their waste, rather storing used nuclear rods in water until radioactivity goes down to a safe level. This usually takes 10 to 20 years.

Craig Piercy, CEO of the American Nuclear Society, an international nonprofit organization of scientist, engineers and industry professionals promoting nuclear engineering and related disciplines, said that nuclear energy is currently having a moment.

He said more people are doing the hard math about climate and decarbonization. The future is dim if we can’t operate an electrical grid that is affordable, resilient and reliable.

“People are realizing that there isn’t another form of energy that is proven and available to meet the clean, baseload, dispatchable, available-at-any-time electricity,” Piercy said.

He said public support for nuclear energy continues to increase, and there is more bi-partisan political cooperation in Congress that supports development of advanced reactors.

In March, the Biden Administration announced it would offer $1.2 billion in aid to extend the life of distressed or shuttered nuclear power plants. The funding comes from the $6 billion Civil Nuclear Credit program created by the 2021 infrastructure law.

New nuclear energy is going to revolve around SMRs than the large traditional nuclear plants of the past.

Though these new reactors are in the development stage and not yet commercially available, that is expected to change heading into the 2030s.

Piercy said that growth of nuclear energy is not going to be led by government but rather private energy companies.

He said the government’s role for nuclear energy should be in providing incentives for energy companies and letting the market mature on its own to draw private capital.

“I don’t think the government is prepared or can really know what things are going to look like 20 years from now, to begin constructing a facility,” Piercy said.