Big Tech's nuclear option

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Oct 01, 2024 View in browser   By Jordan Wolman THE BIG IDEA Three Mile Island is getting ready for a reboot. | Matt Rourke, File/AP Photo RADIOACTIVE — In one of the more surprising comebacks in recent memory, nuclear power is back in the headlines — in a positive light fueled by rising demand for clean energy. First, tech giant Microsoft made headlines by announcing a deal with the operators of Pennsylvania's Three Mile Island, site of the nation's worst nuclear accident, to provide carbon-free fuel to help power its data centers. The Biden administration followed that news on Monday announcing that it has finalized a loan to reactivate the shuttered Palisades nuclear plant in Michigan over local objections. “An American nuclear energy resurgence is beginning,” Rep. Buddy Carter (R-Ga.) said in a statement after the Microsoft deal was announced. If that is the case, the resurgence is being driven by the technology industry’s demand for clean energy to fuel artificial intelligence and data centers, which are on track to take an increasing share of the nation’s overall power demand in coming years at a time where there is pressure to reduce reliance on fossil fuels. Gallup found that public support for nuclear energy is the highest it’s been in a decade. But public support alone isn’t going to be enough to overcome the complications of reopening nuclear facilities that fell out of vogue decades ago or getting new plants built, particularly in light of the delays and cost overruns that plagued construction of the recently completed Vogtle project in Georgia. But Big Tech money just might as cutting-edge companies push their AI dreams as climate-positive. Meta has signaled support for nuclear, and Amazon signed an agreement in March to buy a nuclear-powered data center. The fact that nuclear’s comeback is being fueled by some of the world’s wealthiest corporations is raising concerns among some experts, including David Hess, a former Pennsylvania secretary of environmental protection who lived a dozen miles away from Three Mile Island during its 1979 meltdown. "Fundamentally, it's 1960s technology," said Hess, who is particularly critical of the Microsoft deal. "It's the only American design of a nuclear power plant that failed catastrophically. So people better go into this with their eyes open, especially because it's being restarted not for public benefit, but for the private benefit of one company." Facing dwindling near-term carbon-free options as solar and wind continue to be brought online, states across the country are taking nuclear seriously as a part of their energy plans. Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro wants a speedy permitting process to reopen Three Mile Island. Gov. Kathy Hochul is talking up nuclear in New York. Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin pitched nuclear as a cornerstone of his energy agenda. And California Gov. Gavin Newsom stuck his neck out to save California’s last remaining nuclear plant. It’s not clear how long the shelf life is for reawakening a limited number of closed nuclear sites. That’s leaving open the door for still-unproven small modular reactors, and critics note that we still haven't solved the radioactive waste problem that raised concerns during nuclear's first golden era. “But I think it’s fair to say that folks are taking a hard look at every one of them that would be technically possible to restart,” said Rich Powell, CEO of the Clean Energy Buyers Association, which represents some of the country’s biggest commercial power customers — including Amazon, Google, Meta and Microsoft. WASHINGTON WATCH SPLITTING THE DEFERENCE — Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh defended the court’s decision to scrap the Chevron deference as a move to restore balance between the executive and legislative branches, Pamela King reports for POLITICO’s E&E News. Speaking at Catholic University’s Columbus School of Law in Washington, Kavanaugh said the longstanding deference to federal agencies’ interpretations of ambiguous laws had “put a thumb on the scale” in legal battles over issues from the environment to health care to immigration. “What we did in Loper Bright, the chief justice’s opinion was, I think, a course correction consistent with the separation of powers to make sure that the executive branch is acting within the authorization granted to it by Congress,” he said. Kavanaugh, who was appointed to the court by former President Donald Trump in 2018, warned against over-reading the ruling, which critics have said could shift power from agencies to judges. “It’s really important, as a neutral umpire, to respect the line that Congress has drawn,” he said, “and when it's granted broad authorization, not to unduly hinder the executive branch from performing its congressionally authorized functions — but at the same time, not allowing the executive branch, as it could with Chevron in its toolkit, to go beyond the congressional authorization.” AROUND THE NATION TOO HOT TO HANDLE — California Gov. Gavin Newsom has weighed in on an issue that had its moment in the culture war spotlight, vetoing what would have been the nation’s first law mandating health risk labels on gas stoves. The legislation would have required the warnings on gas stoves sold online to Californians starting next year and in stores starting in 2026, Debra Kahn reports. “This static approach falls short in enabling timely updates to the labeling content that should align with the latest scientific knowledge so that consumers are accurately informed about their purchases,” Newsom said in a veto message. The proposed warnings about the health impacts of “toxic” pollutants drew opposition from home appliance manufacturers, builders and business groups. Similar bills were defeated in New York and Illinois. DISCLOSURE DELAY — Newsom, meanwhile, signed legislation delaying by six months the timeline for implementing California's nation-leading corporate climate disclosure laws, your host reports. The revision endorsed by the governor over the weekend gives state regulators until July 2025 to write the rules and make decisions on things like how much the filing fee should be for corporations disclosing their greenhouse gas emissions and climate-related financial risks. The new law also allows subsidiaries to compile their disclosures at the parent company level. The implementation delay is much shorter than the two years that Newsom had been seeking and doesn't go as far as the California Chamber of Commerce wanted to go in weakening the disclosure regime. With the so-called cleanup legislation in place, all eyes will turn to the next biggest threat to the laws: A federal lawsuit led by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce that is set for a hearing Oct. 15. YOU TELL US GAME ON — Welcome to the Long Game, where we tell you about the latest on efforts to shape our future. Join us every Tuesday as we keep you in the loop on the world of sustainability. Team Sustainability is editor Greg Mott and reporter Jordan Wolman. Reach us at gmott@politico.com and jwolman@politico.com. Sign up for the Long Game. It's free! WHAT WE'RE CLICKING — The Wall Street takes a look at Vice President Kamala Harris’ plans for stockpiling critical minerals to counter China’s supply-chain dominance. — Military veterans are playing a key role in helping to meet the need for skilled labor in clean-tech factories popping up across the country, according to Bloomberg. — The U.K. has closed the book on the fuel that sparked the industrial revolution two centuries ago, shuttering its last remaining coal-fired power plant, the Washington Post reports.   Follow us on Twitter Debra Kahn @debra_kahn Greg Mott @gwmott Jordan Wolman @jordanwolman Allison Prang @AllisonPrang   Follow us

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