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1 1 (May 15, 2024)

handle is hein.crs/govepcn0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Con i-a Won I Fesedrch Service h ornino I Ieoi I live ta ~ 'e 914 Updated May 15, 2024 Nuclear Energy in a Climate Change Context: Current Appropriations for Nuclear Energy Development The potential role of nuclear energy in mitigating climate change has been a significant element of recent congressional discussions about energy and environmental policy. For example, Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman Tom Carper at a committee hearing in April 2023 stated, As many of you know, I believe that safe nuclear power plays an essential role in our efforts to address the greatest challenge of our time, the climate crisis. Other Members of Congress have expressed opposition to nuclear power over concerns that include safety, cost, and the risk of storage of spent nuclear fuel. The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2024 (P.L. 118-42) includes more than $5 billion in new funding and transfers for advanced reactors and fuel, as well as support for existing civilian nuclear power. Nuclear energy is also included as a consideration in the Biden Administration's Long-Term Strategy for the United States on climate change. U.S. Chmate Strategy Human-caused emissions increase the levels of greenhouse gases (GHGs) in the atmosphere, causing global average temperature increases, with a corresponding increase in the net negative effects of climate change. Average global temperatures have increased by approximately 1.00 C since the preindustrial period, with corresponding identified climate-driven impacts. A scientific consensus exists that reducing net global GHG emissions to zero (net zero) by 2050 is consistent with a greater than 50% chance of limiting global temperature increases to 1.50 C. The Long-Term Strategy includes a goal of reducing U.S. GHG emissions to net zero by 2050, as a contribution to limiting climate-driven impacts. As a party to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the United States submitted a Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) document with the goal of reducing U.S. GHG emissions by 50%-52% by 2030 compared with 2005. All pathways described in the Long-Term Strategy that achieve net-zero U.S. GHG emissions by 2050 incorporate achieving the 2030 U.S. NDC GHG emissions reduction goal. Many factors contribute to the U.S. emission of GHGs. The pace of U.S. GHG emissions reduction has not occurred, and is not currently projected to occur, at a rate that some experts assess is in line with meeting these stated climate goals. Emissions reductions in industrial processes, transportation, and other sectors have proven challenging. Replacement of certain fossil fuels with low-carbon electrification and alternative energy sources has been seen as a mechanism for GHG emissions reduction. Rising U.S. electricity demand could pose additional challenges. Some stakeholders in the electricity sector have raised concerns that increases in electricity demand, including those of data centers, and the effects of a transition to lower carbon electricity generation could affect electric grid reliability. Potenta R oe 8of NucearY Power Supporters of nuclear energy contend that nuclear energy could contribute to bringing the United States onto a decarbonization trajectory consistent with its 2050 net-zero GHG emissions goal. Proponents say this could be accomplished, for example, by increasing nuclear-generated electricity and using nuclear reactor heat for industrial processes, such as the production of hydrogen, replacing equivalent energy from fossil fuels. Increasing the role of nuclear power would likely involve building new nuclear generating capacity both to replace existing, aging nuclear reactors and to create a net increase in nuclear generating capacity. Some nuclear power advocates state that such efforts would be facilitated by * using standardized reactor designs, such as small modular reactors (SMRs), that could be built in series to achieve construction economies of scale; * increasing the capability and capacity of the nuclear workforce and supply chains; * developing advanced reactors that could be smaller, safer, and less expensive than existing nuclear technology; and * using nuclear fuel developed for enhanced safety and requiring less frequent reactor refueling. Some environmental advocates have questioned the use of nuclear energy to contribute to mitigating climate change. Such groups raise concerns about nuclear energy that include cost, timing, safety, whether nuclear power's life- cycle carbon emissions are as low as those from renewable energy technologies, and nuclear weapons proliferation. The construction of nuclear power plants often has been subject to large cost overruns and schedule delays, sometimes leading to the abandonment of a project. Recently completed (and proposed) U.S. nuclear projects have relied at least partly on tax credits, government grants, and other assistance to be economically viable. Concerns

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