Ohio should lead on clean-energy manufacturing
Intel’s decision to invest billions of dollars in Ohio for a world-class, high-quality manufacturing facility is great news for the Buckeye state. Looking for a spot to put an important facility with products of national security concern serving a global market valued in the hundreds of billions of dollars for the foreseeable future, Intel opted for the crossroads of the Midwest & Appalachia, an abundance of skilled workers, favorable tax conditions and a history of manufacturing strength. This announcement and Ohio’s status as a manufacturing leader present an opportunity in a similarly-situated industry: clean energy — not wind or solar, but advanced nuclear power.
The U.S. is committed to a 100% clean electricity grid within 13 years. By then, fossil-fuels — which account for 60% of our electricity generation — will need to be replaced or have their emissions completely offset. We need to continue building renewable sources as quickly as possible, but eliminating emissions from electricity and transportation will require extraordinary investment in our most reliable clean-energy source. Existing nuclear reactors operate at more than 90% capacity, compared to 25-35% for renewables, and support half a million jobs with high wages and taxes that back robust local economies all across the country.
New nuclear reactors, typically called small modular reactors (SMRs), are related to traditional plants like those at Davis-Besse and Perry, but are factory-made, flexible and capable of directly replacing fossil-fuel power plants — bringing new high-wage jobs to coal towns and serving as economic wellsprings for a century or more. Thankfully, Ohio already has an edge in this developing market. Ohio manufactures SMRs for the United States Navy.
The U.S. Navy operates dozens of flexible SMRs — turning teenage recruits into operators in little more than a year’s time — and has been since the 1950s. That we trust our sons and daughters to depend on and live alongside these systems should be all the information any American needs to support their use. Ohio’s long history of manufacturing reactors that power our ships makes it a de facto contender to manufacture the reactors that will plug directly in to closing fossil-fuel plants.
Momentum is already rolling for new nuclear. Indiana, Kentucky and West Virginia recently adopted laws making them available for new nuclear power. The coal town Kemmerer, Wyoming, will soon be home to a new reactor designed to store energy while burning nuclear waste. Alaska and Tennessee are siting new builds. Rolls Royce, the naval reactor manufacturer in the U.K., is currently on the hunt for a manufacturing site for that country’s SMRs . ...
When Ohio residents think about nuclear energy, supporting legislation like the Fission for the Future Act of 2021 (USS.3428) should come to mind first. Our manufacturers, energy workers and educators are about to completely rebuild the middle class and literally save the world in the process.