For many people, the thought of nuclear energy brings to mind Three Mile Island or Chernobyl— huge disasters and threats to the environment. But supporters say nuclear power is safe and reliable.
Stephen Haner at the Thomas Jefferson Institute says the real debate is about scale.
"The debate really in the industry is do we really want to build the small modular reactors? Or should we just go ahead and build a couple of full-size reactors instead because two or three modular reactors don't even really equal one full-size reactor. So, I think looking down the road 10, 15, 20 years, that's the debate," Haner argues. "Are we going to build one of the smaller reactors or are we going to build one of the larger ones again?"
One of the chief supporters of small modular reactors is Governor Glenn Youngkin, who says it should be a part of an all-of-the-above approach to energy.
But Tim Cywinski at the Sierra Club says small modular reactors, known as SMRs, are an unproven technology.
"We think that energy growth should be predicated on proof, and the problem with SMRs and nuclear energy of the type that they're trying to build is that they haven't proven to work. They haven't been proven to deliver energy to customers," according to Cywinski. "That's an issue considering Virginia allows Dominion Energy and Appalachian Power to charge customers for something that isn't built yet."
Last year, the governor signed a bill that allows Dominion and Appalachian to recover costs for developing small modular reactors, potentially one of the most lasting legacies of Youngkin's time in office.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
