The Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) released a statement on Tuesday after presidential candidate Hillary Clinton unveiled her energy framework plan.
The NEI said nuclear energy needs to play a larger role than that put forward in the plan and that Clinton's vision of “deep decarbonization” for America by 2050 cannot be achieved absent notable contributions from nuclear energy.
The Clinton plan would call for non-carbon-emitting sources of energy to make up approximately 33 percent of total electrical generation by 2027. Within this plan is the installation of approximately 500 million solar panels. The NEI said that to match nuclear energy output, there would need to be three to five times as many solar panels as that, based on solar power generating at a capacity factor between 17 percent and 28 percent.
Clinton does include advanced reactors as a part of the clean-energy mix. The NEI said her plan fails to recognize the importance of nuclear energy toward carbon-free power generation. They report that 63 percent of the current energy generated by renewable sources is from nuclear energy. As a result of this, the institute said any plan for carbon reduction in energy generation must consider reactors that are currently operating and the potential that new reactors have.
The NEI calls on all presidential candidates to value energy diversity and its economic, environmental and health benefits.
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