NEI Nuclear Notes

Matt Wald The following is a guest post from Matt Wald, senior director of policy analysis and strategic planning at NEI. It’s so obvious that it shouldn’t bear repeating, but it does: If you’re worried about climate change, one early, easy remedy is to preserve nuclear power plants that are already running. If you are facing limits on carbon emissions, don’t shut down perfectly serviceable merchant nuclear plants, just because cheap natural gas has left them, for now, a few bucks out of the money in the competitive electricity markets. Last Thursday the National Association of Clean Air Agencies , a group made up of officials from 42 states and the District of Columbia, plus 116 metropolitan areas, released its 465-page “ Menu of Options ” for complying with the Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Power Plan  ( Section 111 (d) of the Clean Air Act). We could quibble with some details, like describing nuclear technology as “mature.” It is highly developed, but it ha...