FRANKFORT — The head of an energy research center at the University of Kentucky told state lawmakers Friday that it is unlikely a nuclear power plant will be built in Kentucky in the next decade, but some nuclear energy companies are interested in locating in the state.
A new state law The law passed by the GOP-dominated House this year makes Rodney Andrews, the director of the University of Kentucky Center for Applied Energy ResearchChairman of a new research authority whose goal is to research and promote nuclear energy. The authority, which is administratively attached to the research center, is required by state law to submit a study on personnel and training needs for nuclear energy by December and another study by the end of 2025 identifying the best locations for nuclear power plants.
Andrews briefed the Interim Natural Resources and Energy Committee on efforts to establish a nuclear energy research agency and another new commission created by lawmakers. creates new obstacles to the decommissioning of a fossil-fuelled power plantBoth the Nuclear Safety Authority and the Decommissioning Review Commission are administratively located at the University of Kentucky Research Center.
Andrews told MPs the state would be “extremely lucky” to have nuclear power within its borders in the next decade, citing long approval delays to build new nuclear power plants. Newer nuclear technologies such as smaller, modular nuclear power plants People are “very excited,” he said, but no such modular reactors have been built yet.
He said that while the Nuclear Research Authority is not yet fully operational, talks have already begun with a company interested in building a “nuclear facility” in Paducah.
“We are also working with several companies that have expressed a great deal of interest in exploring the possibility of bringing nuclear power to our state,” Andrews said. “There is a great deal of interest from the utilities, but there is also significant interest from some of our largest electricity consumers.”
WKMS, the public radio station in Murray, reported earlier this year In McCracken County, a land deal was completed for a company that plans to use lasers to recycle depleted uranium stocks, including uranium tailings in the former Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant in West Kentucky. Andrews declined to provide the Lantern with further details about the company’s interest in moving to Paducah.
Kentucky has never had a nuclear power plant. But the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant in western Kentucky produced enriched uranium for the country’s nuclear weapons program and later for commercial nuclear power plants. Maxey Apartments in northeastern Kentucky served as a repository for low-level radioactive waste in the 20th century. Both facilities contaminated surrounding soil and water and required extensive Renovation.
Nuclear reactors do not produce direct greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change. But Energy analysts disagree about whether nuclear energy can be developed quickly enough to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in time and thus avoid the worst effects of climate change.
Delays in board appointments create obstacles to fossil fuel elimination
Andrews also updated lawmakers on efforts to create the Energy Inventory and Planning Commission (EPIC), a new agency that utilities must first turn to when requesting to retire a fossil fuel-fired power plant in the state, such as one that uses coal or natural gas.
Energy suppliers and environmentalists condemned the bill establishing EPICbecause it would result in consumers having to bear the costs of keeping aging, uneconomical coal-fired power plants on the grid, even though cheaper alternatives are available. Critics also said the legislative composition of the panel has pro-industry and pro-fossil fuel tendencies and does little to represent the interests of consumers. Supporters of the bill, including Senate President Robert Stivers, argued that EPIC was necessary to ensure that the state’s energy capacity in view of the increasing energy demand.
Andrews, director of the University of Kentucky’s Center for Applied Energy Research, would be part of a five-member executive committee for EPIC, alongside representatives from utilities and the coal industry. Utilities would have to go to that committee and have an application to retire a fossil-fired power plant reviewed before they can apply for the shutdown to the Kentucky Public Service Commission, the state utility regulator that traditionally analyzes and approves or denies power plant retirements.
Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear – who shared the utility companies’ concerns in vetoing the bill and called it unconstitutional—is more than a month behind on appointing EPIC staff. The statutory deadline was July 1.
Sen. Robby Mills, R-Henderson, asked Andrews if the EPIC appointments would be made soon or if he was aware of anything that would “delay” Beshear’s appointments. Andrews responded that the governor’s office had “received recommendations” and the appointments would be made “very quickly.”
Crystal Staley, a spokeswoman for the governor’s office, said in a statement to the Lantern newspaper in early July that the office was “They are working on “a process that is legal under the Kentucky Constitution” to make the appointments, and letters have been sent out requesting nominations.
Speaking to Lantern after his presentation to lawmakers, Andrews said the research center could provide its expertise to ensure the “work product is as technically sound as possible for both the Atomic Research Agency and the Fossil Fuel Review Board.”
He told lawmakers he is in the “very early” stages of working out the scope of EPIC’s operations, which includes considering the state’s future energy needs, including a possible attempt to attract large energy users. like data centers.
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