Skip to main content

Tracking RGGI

By Eric McErlain
An area of intense focus for NEI is to generate better recognition of nuclear energy's role in promoting clean air. That's why NEI has been closely tracking the activities of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), an initiative of nine states in the Northeast and Midatlantic region who are working to develop a cap and trade program for CO2 emissions.

One of my colleagues, Mary Quillian, NEI's manager for environmental programs, attended a RGGI meeting in Vermont last week and passed along these details in a recent email:
The current recommendation from the RGGI working group to the state officials is to enact a program with a cap that holds CO2 emissions from the electric sector at today's level through 2015 and then requires reductions of 1% per year through 2024.

There are clearly discussions of earmarking some allowances for energy efficiency and renewable energy programs.

Energy efficiency programs will aim to reduce demand and demand growth. Renewable energy (wind, solar, hydro) generates electricity without emitting CO2, but so does nuclear energy. NEI continues to ask for equal treatment of all new non-emitting capacity. Increased capacity at existing nuclear plants and eventually new nuclear plants, should receive the same treatment in this RGGI program as renewable energy because both prevent CO2 emissions by supplying electricity without the CO2 byproduct.

How to deal with leakage (the importation of power from non-RGGI states that have no CO2 regulations) and how to dole out allowances to the states (apportionment) are two tough issues still left to be dealt with.

State officials and the RGGI Working Group continue to work toward agreement on the design of a regional CO2 cap-and-trade program through phone calls and meetings. The Working Group will hold another stakeholder meeting in Boston on September 21, presumably to give stakeholders an update on proposed program design and seek stakeholders' comments.
For more on RGGI, here's a story from the Reuters wire.

Technorati tags: , , , , ,

Comments

Anonymous said…
You realize of course that building the nuclear case on the fraudulent global warming case will ruin any credibility you have worked so hard to win.
August 9, 2005 at 12:27 AM
Stewart Peterson said…
Wait...

You're saying global warming is fraudulent? Or are you saying that nuclear power won't stop global warming? Or both?
August 9, 2005 at 1:37 PM
Anonymous said…
The case for nuclear is already solidly built without any global warming involvement.

Since global warming is now mainstream journalism, mainstream politics, mainstream academia, mainstream science and mainstream environmentalism; it is not the credibility of nuclear power that is at stake.

It is the credibility of the above-mentioned mainstream groups that is at stake. But their credibility is alredy in question since they strongly assert that harmful global warming is already happening while they continue to disrespect nuclear energy.
August 24, 2005 at 12:09 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Activists' Claims Distort Facts about Advanced Reactor Design

By
Below is from our rapid response team . Yesterday, regional anti-nuclear organizations asked federal nuclear energy regulators to launch an investigation into what it claims are “newly identified flaws” in Westinghouse’s advanced reactor design, the AP1000. During a teleconference releasing a report on the subject, participants urged the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to suspend license reviews of proposed AP1000 reactors. In its news release, even the groups making these allegations provide conflicting information on its findings. In one instance, the groups cite “dozens of corrosion holes” at reactor vessels and in another says that eight holes have been documented. In all cases, there is another containment mechanism that would provide a barrier to radiation release. Below, we examine why these claims are unwarranted and why the AP1000 design certification process should continue as designated by the NRC. Myth: In the AP1000 reactor design, the gap between the shield bu...
23 comments
Read more

What Happens During a Refueling Outage?

By
You may have noticed over the past few weeks that a number of nuclear plants are shut down for refueling outages or are resuming operations after just returning from one. This type of routine outage usually occurs in the spring or fall when electricity demand is low so that nuclear reactors can replace about one-third of the spent fuel rods with new fuel and conduct other routine maintenance and repairs at the plant. To get a better sense of how refueling works at a nuclear energy facility, I spoke with Marcus Nichol, NEI’s senior project manager for used fuel storage and transportation, and asked him to explain the basics. Why does a nuclear plant need to replace one-third of its fuel? Nichol: The main purpose of a refueling outage is to replace older fuel that is depleted—meaning it can no longer efficiently produce energy from nuclear fission reactions—with new fuel. This “used fuel” has typically been used in the reactor for four-and-a-half to six years before it is pe...
6 comments
Read more

How Much Land Does Nuclear, Wind and Solar Really Need?

By
Not too long ago, we reviewed a report that looked at nuclear energy (and other energy sources) as biodiversity agents. This had to do, in part, with the amount of land a facility needs to function. Nuclear energy and fossil fuel plants use relatively little, wind farms and solar arrays quite a lot of land . Based on an objective and transparent analysis of our sustainable energy choices, we have come to the evidence-based conclusion that nuclear energy is a good option for biodiversity conservation (and society in general) and that other alternatives to fossil fuels should be subjected to the same cost–benefit analyses (in terms of biodiversity and climate outcomes, as well as sociopolitical imperatives) before accepting or dismissing them. Writer Barry Brook, who collected 75 scientists to endorse his paper, is interested in land use as it impacts flora and fauna. Biodiversity concerns do not get as much play as they might – and, when they do, it annoys many when land is withdraw...
4 comments
Read more