With the New Hampshire primary in the headlines and Super Tuesday fast approaching, national attention is turning to the 2020 election. Some Democratic candidates focus on health insurance and others on tax policy, but they all say that it’s time for us to get serious about limiting carbon emissions and protecting the climate.
Pete Buttigieg, for example, talks about being mayor of a city in Indiana that was hit with a 1,000-year flood in 2016 and then a 500-year flood in 2018. He’s called for a zero-emissions electricity system by 2035. Joe Biden, the former vice president and senator from Delaware, wants a “clean energy revolution.” And Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts accepted Jay Inslee’s challenge to prioritize climate policies in her platform.
Any talk of climate should bring nuclear energy to center stage. Numerous studies show that achieving a zero-carbon system, which will be exceptionally difficult, becomes even harder without nuclear energy. And our nuclear plants also help reduce smog and soot, add diversity that makes the grid more reliable, and provide tremendous economic benefits.
The candidates take different approaches, but many have recognized nuclear energy, existing and future, as a key part of the solution.
Biden and Buttigieg are both strong supporters of expanded research and development in clean energy, which for Biden includes small modular reactors. Sen. Michael Bennet of Colorado is an original sponsor of the Nuclear Energy Leadership Act, which is focused on new technology and current reactors. Andrew Yang, a tech entrepreneur, is a strong nuclear supporter and is focused on one new area, reactors that use thorium, but he has also expressed support for reactors that run on uranium as well.
Warren and Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota both recognize existing reactors as a major contributor to climate stability. Warren said in a debate on Dec. 19, "We have to stop putting more carbon in the air. We’ve got to get the carbon out of the air and out of the water. And that means we need to keep some of our nuclear in place."
Mike Bloomberg, the former mayor of New York City, did not make a strong push in New Hampshire (he’s concentrating on the Super Tuesday states) but for years he was a supporter of New York’s Indian Point nuclear reactors as a source of reliable electricity that did not increase air pollution and remains open to nuclear energy.
All of the candidates call for steep cuts in carbon emissions, which is likely to bring them to support nuclear power, even if they’re not there already.
Protecting the climate will be a major theme of the 2020 election, but nuclear energy is more than just the leading provider of carbon-free electricity in the U.S. With 96 plants providing reliable electricity and nearly 100,000 high-quality jobs—and innovative advanced reactors on the way—nuclear energy is an important part of America’s energy future.
And it will be an important part of any feasible climate plan.
UPDATE: After publication, Bennet and Yang dropped out of the race.
