Nuclear remains a part of New York’s green energy future

State will subsidize nuclear power as part of its aggressive clean energy standard

Does nuclear power have a future on the clean energy landscape?

Two influential American states have agreed to disagree.

Nuclear energy is the largest source of carbon-free energy in the United States, producing about 19 percent of Americans’ electricity and 63 percent of its zero-emission power.

In recent years, though, low-priced electricity from natural gas plants and tax subsidies for wind and solar power have proven too much for numerous nuclear power plants across the U.S., with five early retirements since 2013 and closure apparently looming for as many as 20 more.

These early nuclear plant retirements could dramatically increase U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. And in recent months, the state of California showed it was willing to drop nuclear energy from its green portfolio, with Pacific Gas & Electric Co. announcing a proposal to close Diablo Canyon, the state’s last remaining nuclear power plant, by 2025.

The state of New York, however, is not ready to abandon nuclear energy. New York, itself a champion of greening its energy supplies, approved an aggressive clean energy standard in early August—and, at the same time, announced that it would offer subsidies to keep three large existing nuclear power plants open.

“Maintaining zero-emission nuclear power is a critical element to achieving New York’s ambitious climate goals. This will allow financially struggling upstate nuclear power plants to remain in operation during New York’s transition to 50 percent renewables by 2030,” read a statement from New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s office.

“A growing number of climate scientists have warned that if these nuclear plants were to abruptly close, carbon emissions in New York will increase by more than 31 million metric tons during the next two years,” the statement continued, “resulting in public health and other societal costs of at least $1.4 billion.”

While some have criticized New York's choice to subsidize nuclear, others have defended the decision, remarking that New York’s plan offers a blueprint to fight global warming with both nuclear and renewables.

“It’s important to unpack this. It’s not renewables killing nuclear. It’s policies that fail to recognize the contributions of both renewables and nuclear,” Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) energy researcher Jesse Jenkins told Vox. “But those policies can change — as they did this week in New York.”

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