Jeff Merrifield Serves as Panelist in U.S. Energy Association Press Briefing on Small Modular Reactors

Organized and hosted by journalist Llewellyn King, journalists were given the opportunity to ask relevant questions on the matter such as, among others: When will SMRs be deployed in the U.S.? How often will they be refueled? Is the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) prepared to license new nuclear technologies?

On the topic of clean energy cost juxtapositions, Merrifield stated, “A lot of people make a comparison with the cost of wind and solar versus nuclear, and I think there’s a time difference that needs to be factored in.”

“A nuclear power plant, albeit more costly upfront, is an asset that operates for 80 years. If you compare that to wind and solar, those have generally 20-year lifetimes—batteries around eight years. So, if you take the sheer number of sets of generating facilities, you’d have to have compared with [other] renewables—batteries versus nuclear—you would actually see that nuclear stacks up very, very well.”

To view the full press briefing, click here.