By Senator Tom Brewer
Back in 2022, the legislature appropriated a million dollars to study the feasibility of sighting small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs) in Nebraska. Nebraska Public Power District was charged with this responsibility in the legislation. In February of 2023, I introduced LR 21. This resolution created a select committee of the Executive Board to study the use of SMR technology in Nebraska. The Governor is excited about the potential of this technology in Nebraska. It is clear this matter has had a long, fair hearing in the most senior offices of state Government. The conditions are set. It is time for the next legislature to act.
This past August, NPPD released their study and announced 16 different communities around Nebraska that have the potential to host a nuclear power plant. Valentine and Rushville are in my district. Also released in August was a United States Department of Energy study, which was a report to congress about the future energy demands driven by artificial intelligence (AI).
According to the International Energy Agency, global data center electricity use is about 375 terawatt hours (TWh), up from about 175 TWh last year. They forecast explosive growth in the load on our electricity grid. Sadly, Nebraska’s big three public power boards are consumed by the green new climate lie. All three of them have stated their generation needs to be “carbon neutral” by 2050. Our public power boards are concerned with a fad that does not withstand genuine scientific inquiry. There are Nebraska load growth forecasts that show we are ten years – or less – away from not having the reserve generation to serve Nebraska load, let alone selling power. If we can’t find leaders with a sense of urgency, Nebraska is going to end up behind the eight ball and in the dark.
Duke Energy serves millions of customers in Ohio, Indiana, North and South Carolina and Florida. They did a study comparing nuclear power to so-called “renewable” energy. They pointed out the electricity made by America’s 94 nuclear power plants. To create this same amount of electricity with wind turbines requires covering an area the size of West Virgina. Using solar panels takes the size of New Jersey. They only generate electricity about four days a week. They are intermittent generators at best, and always will be. The only thing that makes them viable at all is a corrupt federal government subsidy program paid for with borrowed federal deficit spending our grandchildren will have to pay back. Even Warren Buffet knows “renewables” are a bad idea.
“For example, on wind energy, we get a tax credit if we build a lot of wind farms. That’s the only reason to build them. They don’t make sense without the tax credit.” (Warren Buffet, 2014)
We need to be building “real” base-load generators in Nebraska right now. Nuclear is emission-free electricity. No matter where you stand on humans and the planet, it is clear Nebraska should not base our energy future on unreliable generators. All they are good for is making a handful of out-of-state people rich, and creating a whole county full of Nebraskans that hate their county commissioners.
Please contact my office with any comments, questions, or concerns. Email me at tbrewer@leg.ne.gov, mail a letter to Sen. Tom Brewer, Room #1423, P.O. Box 94604, Lincoln, NE 68509, or call us at (402) 471-2628.