Media Coverage
Source: POLITICO Pro, Bloomberg
Media Coverage
Press Contacts: Erik Cummins, Matt Hyams, Olivia Thomas
12.04.23
At a November 30 hearing, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee expressed a willingness to offer more federal funding to enhance the stalled advanced nuclear energy industry. The lawmakers also suggested that they could support statutory changes to make the regulatory process for licensing new reactors more efficient, according to coverage by Politico Pro.
Energy partner and former Nuclear Regulatory Commissioner Jeff Merrifield stated in his testimony to the Senate committee that Congress should consider a “financial backstop” program for first-of-its-kind reactors to share risks related to delays and cost overruns.
Merrifield, who also leads Pillsbury’s Nuclear Energy team, further proposed that utilities could structure a financial “pool” to develop a series of power plants together in an effort to spread potential risks.
“If there are timing delays, there are cost overruns... there can be a sharing of that cost and not burden that single company—whether it’s a utility or industrial user—for putting their neck out and trying to move forward with the technology,” he said.
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According to Bloomberg, Merrifield also told the committee that, "utility executives who are compensated on meeting quarterly financial targets, avoiding risk and managing the prudency reviews of Public Utility Commission commissioners have a variety of built-in incentives for not jumping to the front of the line."
"Risks associated with a delayed nuclear unit could put potential strains on ratepayers and shareholders alike," he concluded.