Part 2 of 2 Parts (Please read Part 1 first)
Nuclear Development (ND) pushed officials to take another look at the original proposal for the purchase of the Bellefonte plant from the TVA. The TVA responded to the ND suggestion in a statement that read, “Nuclear Development recently lost on the key issue in the pending litigation against TVA — the issue of whether TVA could have legally closed on the sale even though Nuclear Development had not procured all required licenses and approvals. The federal court recently agreed with TVA that it would have been illegal to close the transaction. Having lost on this key legal issue, Nuclear Development now seeks to dredge up old proposals that TVA has rejected time and time again.”
ND agreed to buy the Bellefonte plant in the last days of President Obama’s administration. They spent the Trump administration trying to get financing and close the deal. Now, under the Biden administration, ND is attempting a new tactic. They are trying to take advantage of the political desire for energy sources with low carbon dioxide emissions including nuclear power.
McCollum continued in his statement, “Congress created TVA to serve the region, and with half of TVA’s supply coming from coal or natural gas, it will be difficult if not impossible for them to meet the 2035 decarbonization targets without a deal like this. Decarbonization goals are one factor, but when you add in the jobs, and the long-term benefits for the economy, selling and completing the facility is a no-brainer. TVA’s previous leadership’s choice to back out of the Bellefonte agreement was shortsighted, but there is nothing preventing better thinking today.”
The Biden administration is working to decarbonize the U.S. electricity supply by 2035. This is a very ambitious goal that would require billions of dollars in new investment. The TVA now generates about sixty percent of its electricity from what it claims are carbon-free sources. About forty percent of that energy comes from nuclear power which may be low carbon but is not zero carbon.
The TVA still uses coal to generate fourteen percent of its electricity. In 2005, coal generated fifty seven percent. Natural gas, which emits less carbon dioxide than coal, currently generates about twenty seven percent of the TVA fuel mix. In 2005, natural gas only generated about seven percent. Jeff Lyash, the CEO of the TVA, describes natural gas as a “bridge fuel” to take the TVA from carbon emitting fossil fuels to the carbon free future.
On Wednesday, Lyash appeared at an event hosted by the Atlantic Council which is a think tank. He was there with U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-West Virginia. At that meeting, Lyash lobbied for more use of small modular reactors (SMRs) which generate under three hundred megawatts compared to full sized reactors which often generate over a gigawatt. SMRs are in the process of development but there are none operating today.
Lyash said that the TVA is ready to lead the nations in that kind of technology. The utility’s statement to The Commercial Appeal newspaper mentioned that the TVA had “received the nation’s first early site permit from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for the development of small modular reactors at our Clinch River site. Our focus is on bringing new carbon-free technologies to the market.”
ND spent years during the Trump’s administration trying to buy Bellefonte and to secure billions of dollars in public financing for the project. The documents unsealed in the lawsuit between ND and the TVA reveal that ND spent years trying to influence politicians and policy makers in their pursuit of a deal to by Bellefonte.
The owner of ND spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on political consultants and campaign donations in Memphis. He attempted to secure the support of the Memphis City Council which is the elected body that would make the final decision on whether MLGW should leave the TVA. U.S. Representative Steve Cohen of Memphis is a friend of the owner of ND. Cohen facilitated introductions to powerful leaders in Memphis. These leaders included Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland.