WASHINGTON — Former President Donald Trump's campaign on Thursday touted a plan to cut electricity bills by quickly approving the construction of new power plants and encouraging the adoption of small modular reactors for nuclear power, which it said would spark an economic boom.
“In the future, every manufacturing plant, every data center, every semiconductor facility and assembly line is going to want to be built in the United States,” former Interior Secretary David Bernhardt said at a campaign news conference, “because America is going to have the lowest energy costs anywhere on earth.”
The Republican candidate's team laid out Trump's energy vision as the 45th president prepared to speak in the auto-producing state of Michigan, repeating pledges to tap the nation's oil and gas reserves and ease efficiency regulations on coal and vehicles.
“Due to surging demand and coal retirements, we will face a significant generating capacity shortfall of at least 30 percent by 2032,” Barnhart said. [Vice President Kamala] Harris [and Tim] I asked Walz how they would make up that shortfall under a net-zero initiative, and I told him they couldn't.”
One new aspect of Trump's energy plan is the promotion of nuclear energy, which currently accounts for a major portion of our energy supply. 18.6% Its share of U.S. electricity production is well below that of natural gas (43.1%) and slightly above that of coal (16.2%) and wind (10.2%).
Bernhardt said President Trump will “support nuclear energy production by modernizing the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, working to keep our existing nuclear plants open, and investing in innovative small modular reactors.”
“President Trump will completely modernize our electric grid to prepare it for the next 100 years, implement fast-track approvals for energy projects, and authorize the construction of hundreds of new power plants, paving the way for a massive increase in American wealth,” he added.
Billionaire-led nuclear boom
Small modular reactors (SMRs) are not currently in commercial use in the United States, and none are scheduled to be operational before 2030. But backers of the technology, including billionaire Bill Gates, founder of the company TerraPower, say they are a promising option. The first facility In Wyoming, we believe we can reform the industry.
Daniel Kamen, a professor of nuclear engineering at the University of California, Berkeley, said the current timeline, at least for now, means small modular reactors won't be in commercial use until after Trump's second term.
“Nuclear SMR advocates would say this is a brave and shiny new wave of nuclear power, and that commercial operators will essentially do with nuclear what they did with space launch,” Kammen said.
Still, he said, “the number of design barriers that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has put in place to protect public safety would be extremely difficult for even a deeply pro-nuclear president to overcome.”
Proponents believe the modular technology could pave the way for faster and cheaper deployment of nuclear power as a greener alternative to emissions-heavy energy sources, and outgoing President Biden has also backed research into the use of SMRs.
The main difference between conventional nuclear power plants and SMRs is their power generation capacity, with “smaller” facilities, with cores the size of 18-wheeler trucks, producing less electricity.
“There are SMRs in operation virtually all over the world. Russia has sent nuclear icebreakers to Arctic cities to power them directly. Russia has nuclear aircraft carriers,” Kamen said.
“If someone really did remove the laws and regulations, it would certainly be possible to commercially deploy nuclear weapons,” he added, but warned that nuclear technology carries significant potential risks, including disasters caused by human manipulation.
“Technology at this scale has been around for decades,” Kammen said, “these are just machines that have been tailored for commercial use.”
Smaller reactors could, in theory, allow for more widespread deployment. That's certainly the case with solar energy, which has grown to account for 3.9% of U.S. electricity production, Kammen said, thanks in part to rising solar panel prices as production increases.
Steve Milloy, a senior fellow at the Institute for Energy and Environment who previously served on Trump's Environmental Protection Agency transition team, said the 45th president “seems to be starting to put more emphasis on nuclear power now than his first administration.”
“That's not enough. [with] “We need to reform the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. We need to change how the EPA regulates radiation exposure. So I think all of these things are doable,” he told The Washington Post.
Milloy argued that Republicans have become favorable toward nuclear power because it could help them counter Democrats on climate change.
“They seem to want to avoid talking about climate, which I think is ridiculous,” he said. “I mean, they should be hitting Harris-Waltz on climate, especially in Pennsylvania, so they're talking about energy solutions.” [instead]” he said.
Shift in environmental policy
During the former president's campaign, he reverted to familiar pro-fossil fuel policies, such as easing restrictions on domestic production of oil, natural gas and coal, while abandoning plans to phase out gasoline and diesel-fueled vehicles.
Milloy argued that one of Trump's most significant energy proposals is his “Drill, Drill” slogan, which would “unleash the American oil and gas industry,” but he also warned that Trump could run into roadblocks with the EPA.
“The EPA is notorious for resistance, which intensified during the Trump administration, during his first term. They delay things, they obstruct things. Trump is going to need to appoint a strong agency leader who understands resistance and knows how to fight it,” he said.
Under the Harris-Biden administration, the federal government has suspended new oil and gas leasing on federal lands, halted construction of the Keystone XL oil pipeline from Canada and banned drilling in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
Harris, 59, has not laid out a detailed energy policy but has previously supported a ban on fracking and a total phase-out of new gasoline-powered vehicles by 2035. Aides to Harris have distanced herself from those two pledges, but she has not yet done so.
The 78-year-old Trump has vowed to roll back at least some of the $369 billion environmental budget included in Biden's 2022 Inflation Beating Act, which Republicans argue has contributed to inflation, which has risen 20% since Biden took office in January 2021.
“Energy is not just a part of the economy, it's the heart of the economy, and when energy costs go up, everything goes up,” Jason Isaac, CEO of the American Energy Association, told The Washington Post.
Democrats have defended themselves from criticism over energy prices by pointing out that domestic crude oil production has hit an all-time high. Best ever last year.
“Please go back and look [Energy Information Administration] “There were projections long before the Biden administration took office,” Bernhardt countered. “You can see that the projections were well above current production levels. Production has increased, but it's actually below what would have been achieved under President Trump's policies.”
“That way, they can take credit for not achieving their goal.”
