Senators wonder why Biden is prioritizing green energy over nuclear power.

President Biden’s Green Energy Goals

President Joe Biden is committed to achieving a 100-percent “clean electricity grid” by 2035 and net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. To achieve these goals, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is investing heavily in “green energies.”

DOE’s Proposed Budget

The DOE’s $52 billion Fiscal Year 2024 (FY24) budget request focuses on carbon-free energy development funded through programs established in 2021’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) and 2022’s $437 billion Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). The proposed budget and landmark bills promote renewable energies such as solar, wind, hydroelectricity, hydrogen, geothermal, and biomass while cutting allocations for oil and gas infrastructure and permitting.

Nuclear Energy Gets Short Shrift

Despite nuclear power’s contribution of nearly 20 percent of the electricity produced in the United States, the DOE’s proposed spending plan cuts spending on nuclear power development by more than $210 million, or 12 percent, from this year’s $1.77 billion budget, and nearly $100 million from two years ago.

DOE’s Tepid Support for Nuclear Energy

During a May 3 hearing before the Senate Appropriations Committee’s Energy & Water Development Subcommittee, several senators questioned DOE Deputy Secretary David Turk about the Biden administration’s tepid support for nuclear energy. Despite the DOE’s website lauding nuclear power as the most reliable energy source, the proposed budget boosts funding for fossil fuel energies by 2 percent and for renewables by 39 percent while slashing funding for the DOE’s Office of Nuclear Energy.

Proposed Bills Could Change Everything

There are at least two legislative campaigns matriculating through Congress that could, if adopted, dramatically alter DOE’s budget plans, boost funding for nuclear power development, and revive the nation’s uranium mining and processing industry.

• Senate Bill 947, the Senate companion bill to House Bill 1, the ‘Lower Energy Costs Act’ introduced by House Majority Leader Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.), and adopted in a partisan vote by the House March 30.
• More than a dozen legislative proposals from House Republicans to “increase domestic energy production, reform the permitting process for all industries, reverse anti-energy policies advanced by the Biden Administration, streamline energy infrastructure and export.”

Investments and breakthroughs in the commercial viability of “green energies” are intriguing and should be pursued, but we should use technology to make all forms of energy more available, cheap, and abundant. Nuclear power is the most reliable energy source, and it is worth pursuing. Let’s hope that the proposed bills will help boost funding for nuclear power development and revive the nation’s uranium mining and processing industry.