EnviroPolitics Blog

Going Nuclear–Industry Outlook and Issues

US Energy, Infrastructure, and Resources Alert

By Thomas G. Allen, Tim L. Peckinpaugh, Martha G. Pugh,
Jasper G. Noble, K&L Gates

The nuclear energy industry continues to gain momentum and has a strong outlook for 2025 and beyond. This positive forecast is buoyed by support from both major political parties, increased demand, technical advancements, and some out-of-the-box thinking for deploying existing assets. There have also been a few notable judicial and legislative developments that are contributing to what some hope will be the realization of a long-promised nuclear renaissance.

Outlook for 2025 and Beyond

The new year is already off to a good start for nuclear power generation.

Expansion of the Price-Anderson Act

First, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit recently advanced a broad interpretation of the Price-Anderson Act that will expand the definition of private parties covered for certain nuclear accidents. This positive development broadens who can take advantage of government indemnification under the Price-Anderson Act, encouraging new parties to participate in the nuclear market. We wrote about this development and its impact on limiting private liability for nuclear accidents here.

Nuclear Market Growth

Second, a dynamic nuclear market appears to be taking root. As Nuclear Business Platform reports: (1) small modular reactors (SMRs) should lead the way in 2025, with several designs under development and NuScale Power Corporation achieving US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) certification; (2) increased demand from data centers and artificial intelligence should continue to drive new generation; (3) a positive financing environment for nuclear projects also appears to be in place; (4) new technology developments in both reactors and fuels from a variety of private market players should support further growth; and (5) new market participants in India, Turkey, and Africa will also support continued advancements and efficiencies.

Nuclear-Powered Hydrogen

Third, the US nuclear industry continues to evaluate opportunities for using nuclear fuel as an electricity source to produce hydrogen following the US Department of the Treasury’s final changes to the 45V clean hydrogen production tax credit, which exempt (with some restrictions) existing and future nuclear power plants from the additionality requirements imposed on other renewable energy sources. US nuclear leaders, along with EDF Energy’s initiatives in France and Japan’s High Temperature Engineering Test Reactor, could carve out a new generation space.

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Trump tariffs prove final nail for proposed Pa recycling plant

President Donald Trump speaks during an event to announce new tariffs in the Rose Garden at the White House, Wednesday, April 2, 2025, in Washington, as Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick listens. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein) (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

The developer of a proposed $300 million recycling plant in Pennsylvania says Trump-imposed tariffs helped kill the project.

Eric Heyl, Patch Staff

ERIE, PA — Plans for a new $300 million plastics recycling plant here have been canceled, with the financial uncertainties caused by President Donald Trump’s recent imposition of global tariffs cited as a significant reason for the project’s death.

Erie-based International Recycling Group was to build the plant on a 25-acre site that formerly housed a paper mill. The Erie Times-News reported the facility would have created 300 jobs and produced about 100,000 tons of recycled plastic materials annually.

But IRG had yet to receive a $182 million Department of Energy loan approved last summer by the Biden administration that the company needed to finalize fundraising for the plant. The Trump administration had put an indefinite hold on the funding commitment.

In a statement provided Thursday to the Times-News, IRG officials said “Additional challenged include recently announced tariffs on materials and on equipment from Europe not made in the U.S., resulting in expectations of substantially high project development costs than anticipated, as well as difficulties in securing long-term purchase agreements for recycled materials from plastics manufacturers and consumer product groups, many of whom are cutting back on sustainability pledges.”

Read the full story here

Trump tariffs prove final nail for proposed Pa recycling plant Read More »

As a candidate he wanted stock trades by congressmen banned. Now that he is one, well…

By The New York Times News Service Syndicate

WASHINGTON — Last March, when Rob Bresnahan, Jr., a wealthy business executive, was running to represent a competitive House district in northeastern Pennsylvania, he published a letter to the editor in a local newspaper demanding an end to stock trading by members of Congress.

“The trust our political leaders and institutions have from Americans is at a historic low and it’s easy to understand why,” Bresnahan wrote in the Wilkes-Barre Citizens’ Voice. “Too often we hear about how politicians are making millions of dollars during their time in office, and it is sickening. If we want to restore trust in government and our political leaders, then Congress needs to lead with these policies.”

If elected, Bresnahan told voters, he would co-sponsor legislation to ban stock trading by members of Congress, a practice he said “needs to come to an end immediately.”

More than two months after being sworn in, Bresnahan, who defeated a Democratic incumbent last November in one of the most expensive House races in the country, has not introduced or co-sponsored such a bill. Over that time, he has emerged as one of the most active stock traders in the freshman class, according to Capitol Trades, a site that monitors the stock market activity of lawmakers.

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As a candidate he wanted stock trades by congressmen banned. Now that he is one, well… Read More »

Trump’s tariffs could choke healthy US solar market

By ARIANNA SKIBELL, Power Switch, 4/04/2025

U.S. solar power has been having a moment. President Donald Trump’s tariff blitz may end it.

The nation’s solar industry has experienced a staggering growth rate over the past decade, with generation growing 27 percent last year alone. But because companies import almost 75 percent of their panels from countries targeted by Trump’s tariffs, the industry’s growth could be clipped by snarled supply chains and soaring costs, writes Benjamin Storrow.

“It’s just an enormous expense to bear,” Brett White with developer Pine Gate Renewables told Ben.

For now, Trump is digging in his heels. The president insisted on social media, “MY POLICIES WILL NEVER CHANGE,” even as China retaliated with an eye-popping 34 percent tariff and U.S. stocks plummeted even further.

The nation’s leading solar manufacturer, First Solar, was no exception with its shares falling almost 6 percent this afternoon — a foreboding harbinger of what could be to come.

The tariffs arrive as the U.S. solar industry is weathering potential setbacks on at least two other fronts. Congressional Republicans are working to roll back subsidies for solar developers signed into law under the Biden administration. And the Commerce Department is expected to finalize separate, higher duties on solar imports from Southeast Asia after discovering China has been routing solar components through those countries at lower prices (i.e. “dumping,” in global trade parlance).

Read the full story here

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Trump’s expediters fast track a driller with a dirty record

Workers move a section of well casing into place at a Chesapeake Energy natural gas well site near Burlington, Pa., in Bradford County, on April 23, 2010.

By Audrey Carleton (Capital & Main)

An Oklahoma-based natural gas producer that was fined $1.9 million in 2021 for damaging wetlands and streams at 76 drilling sites in Pennsylvania has had more than a dozen of those sites added to a list of projects that have been ordered fast-tracked by the Trump administration to address what he calls the nation’s “energy emergency.”

In addition to the fine, Chesapeake Energy, now Expand Energy, was required to restore 55 acres of wetlands and nearly 4,500 linear feet of streams. Wetlands are considered environmentally critical, sometimes referred to as “earth’s kidneys,” because they improve water quality and filter pollutants; they also help reduce erosion and prevent flooding. Chesapeake has a history dating back to 2013 of improperly filling in wetlands by discharging drilling fluids, sand, dirt, and rocks.

Chesapeake applied for retroactive federal permits to come into legal compliance on 17 of its fracking projects in Pennsylvania. Now, the firm’s wait may be nearly over.

Chesapeake’s fracking operations are among more than 600 projects across the country that have been earmarked by the Trump administration as energy emergencies. The list includes a pipeline to be bored under Lake Michigan, a deepwater export port off the coast of Louisiana, and a controversial plan by Chevron to build a housing development atop one of its old oil fields in northern Orange County, Calif.

The projects were added to the Army Corps of Engineers’ standing list of jobs that are considered priorities — typically those impacted by natural disasters such as hurricanes, tropical storms, and floods. Such emergency work is prompted by “dire” situations that “require short cutting the normal permitting,” said David Bookbinder, director of law and policy at the nonprofit Environmental Integrity Project.

Read the full story here

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NJ farmers allowed controlled burns to protect crops April 6-12

With New Jersey expected to experience cooler spring temperatures, the Department of Environmental Protection has agreed with NJDA Secretary Ed Wengryn’s request to allow farmers to do controlled open burning or use specialized torches known as smudge pots to protect flowering crops from damage beginning Sunday, April 6 through Saturday, April 12.

Temperatures are expected to drop to the 30s or below next week with varying winds through portions of the state. These expected temperatures follow warm temperatures in recent days. Damage from freezing weather now can significantly reduce yields of certain fruits and vegetables that are in the flowering stage.

The DEP and Department of Agriculture are allowing these steps to protect farmers’ livelihoods and to ensure that consumers will be able to enjoy an ample supply of Jersey produce later this year.

Read the full story here

NJ farmers allowed controlled burns to protect crops April 6-12 Read More »

Going Nuclear–Industry Outlook and Issues

US Energy, Infrastructure, and Resources Alert

Outlook for 2025 and Beyond

Expansion of the Price-Anderson Act

Nuclear Market Growth

Nuclear-Powered Hydrogen

Trump tariffs prove final nail for proposed Pa recycling plant

The developer of a proposed $300 million recycling plant in Pennsylvania says Trump-imposed tariffs helped kill the project.

As a candidate he wanted stock trades by congressmen banned. Now that he is one, well…

Trump’s tariffs could choke healthy US solar market

Trump’s expediters fast track a driller with a dirty record

NJ farmers allowed controlled burns to protect crops April 6-12

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