Sen. Joe Manchin said he's looking into developing a federal program whereby ratepayers across the country share in the cost of maintaining the nation's fleet of nuclear reactors, several of which retired in recent years due largely to higher cost of operation compared to other generating sources.
"If we had an overall — to where all of us in our rate base is paying a certain percentage for our nuclear fleet, it'd be minuscule. But I can tell you it would make the difference of trying to get states to pick up the slack or having federal government continue to have to subsidize," he said. Dispatchability distinguishes nuclear from renewable wind and solar sources, which also generate carbon-free electricity but are variable to meteorological conditions. Wind and solar, plus storage, is growing, but most installations lack battery storage.
Sen_JoeManchin Thereby creating a giant vacuum, sucking device to gather up all taxpayers $ until the lights go out. AYKM Leave the private investors alone. They can do it, if you’d quit making rules. Govt never ran anything effectively.