Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Energy Policy topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Senate hearing yields split views on studying small modular nuclear reactors
Summary
Senator Bearden urged a PSC study of small modular reactors (SMRs) as a power option for data centers, manufacturing and desalination; environmentalists warned of cost and waste risks while labor representatives said Georgia now has the workforce to build SMRs. The committee retained materials for future consideration.
Senator Bearden asked the Regulated Industries and Utilities Committee to urge the Public Service Commission to study advanced nuclear technology, including small modular reactors (SMRs), arguing the technology could supply power for data centers, manufacturing and desalination and positioning Georgia to attract future projects. "These small modular reactors...can have footprints on about 30 acres of land, safer, cheaper, and the power that they can produce will be great for anything from manufacturing...we have a large surge of data centers," Bearden said.
Mark Woodall, legislative chair for the Sierra Club, testified in opposition. Woodall cited cost and consumer-bill concerns tied to recent large-reactor projects in Georgia and referenced studies he said show higher capital costs per kilowatt-hour for some SMR designs and an increase in certain waste volumes from SMR designs. "Nuclear is not the way to go" for affordability and consumer protection, Woodall told the committee, citing cost overruns on Vogtle units 3 and 4 as a cautionary example.
James Williams, secretary-treasurer of the Georgia AFL-CIO and an electrical-worker union member, urged the committee to study the technology and said Georgia has a trained workforce after the Vogtle projects and that the NRC and federal regulators govern fissile material and reactor safety. "We are poised and ready to go," Williams said about skilled trades in the state.
Committee members asked how SMRs would be regulated, whether private entities could operate them independent of PSC oversight, and whether the units pose radiological risks; witnesses and the sponsor said SMRs would be subject to federal NRC oversight and state regulatory guardrails and that early study would help clarify legal and regulatory questions. The chair asked witnesses to provide written materials and said the committee may form a subcommittee and revisit the matter; no committee vote was taken on the resolution or bill today.
The record contains a labeling inconsistency: the agenda referenced "Senate Resolution 482" while the sponsor referred to "Senate Bill 42" during his remarks; the committee proceeded with a hearing and requested further materials rather than taking immediate action.
