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Duncan Highlights the Importance of Nuclear Energy in Committee Hearing

February 18, 2021

Laurens, S.C. – Congressman Jeff Duncan (SC-03) issued the following statement regarding the House Energy and Commerce Committee's Energy Subcommittee hearing on pathways to a clean energy future:

"The Subcommittee on Energy held a hearing today focused on moving our nation toward clean energy sources to lower our carbon emissions. I took the opportunity to stress the importance of pursuing an all-of-the-above energy approach and spoke to how nuclear power is a critical part of the solution. Nuclear energy provides a carbon-free, 24/7 baseload power supply. Further, the industry alone creates hundreds of thousands of good-paying jobs and is a solid source of local revenue for many states.

"South Carolina is a leader in the nuclear industry, as Duke Energy's Oconee Nuclear Station in my district is one of the largest nuclear plants in the United States. The Oconee nuclear plant produces more than 2,500 megawatts of carbon-free, reliable energy and has a land use of just 2 square miles. While I fully support renewable energy sources, it's important to understand their drawbacks. For instance, if Duke Energy's Oconee Nuclear Station was replaced with solar power, it would require 107 square miles of land to make that a reality – which is nearly four times the size of the City of Greenville. To replace with wind power, it would require over 854 square miles of land – which is larger than Anderson County.

"The current electric grid instability Texas is experiencing right now has hopefully been an eye-opener to my fellow policy makers in understanding that we need a diverse portfolio of energy resources to power the grid. Additionally, if we are serious about moving toward more clean energy sources and lowering our nation's carbon emissions, we need to move forward on an all-of-the-above approach and accept that nuclear power plays a critical role in that. We must also ensure that market realities, generation capabilities, and the impacts to our national security are the drivers of our energy policy. The bottom line is there is not one single form of energy that is the one-all-be-all. Moving forward, we need to ensure that we have reliable baseload power generation to back up intermittent renewables."

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View the Congressman's remarks HERE.

Issues:Energy