NEI, Breakthrough Inst.
Ted Nordhaus is Founder and Executive Director of the Breakthrough Institute. John Kotek is Senior Vice President of Policy Development and Public Affairs at the Nuclear Energy Institute.
The role advanced nuclear technologies can play in providing clean dispatchable generation in an electrified and decarbonized energy system is of great interest to many in the energy and utilities industry. It's fortunate then that two important institutions released studies on the subject.
The Nuclear Energy Institute and the Breakthrough Institute recently issued independent reports on the benefits of advanced nuclear and both based on modeling by Vibrant Clean Energy. The two studies produced important and harmonious results.
PUF brought together experts from both the Breakthrough Institute and NEI to explore the findings of these reports, as well as the latest happenings in nuclear. Here, Ted Nordhaus and John Kotek unleash their nuclear expertise.
PUF's Steve Mitnick: What do you see as the role of existing and new nuclear reactors in helping states meet their clean-energy goals?
Ted Nordhaus: We have this legacy reactor base that remains the core of our clean-energy power system. It's clear, despite claims on the contrary from some camps, that when you close these reactors, it largely gets replaced with fossil generation capacities.