This post originally appeared at https://www.badgerinstitute.org/new-legislative-resolve-is-building-to-pursue-nuclear-energy/

Badger Institute supports resolution now being circulated in the Capitol

Nine years after then-Gov. Scott Walker signed legislation lifting a moratorium on building new nuclear power plants, Rep. David Steffen and Sen. Julian Bradley are circulating a joint resolution supporting expansion of nuclear energy production in Wisconsin.

Steffen said Thursday there are several reasons the state needs to support nuclear energy right now.

“We are going to be in dramatic need of energy production, with Microsoft alone,” he said, referring to the Microsoft data center now under construction in and around Mount Pleasant. “That single campus will be pulling more power than the city of Madison.”

It’s possible a 2,000-acre data center will also be built in the Port Washington area — a project that would, if it comes to fruition, rival in scope and economic impact the Microsoft project. Plans, meanwhile, are moving forward for a data center with four buildings on roughly 240 acres northeast of state highway 142 just west of I-94 in Kenosha, according to documents filed with the Kenosha Plan Commission in November by Navix Engineering of Bellevue, Wash.

Wisconsin, said Steffen, currently uses far more electricity than we generate.

“Furthermore, we are seeing the removal of coal as a long-term energy source,” he said. Twenty-five years ago, 63% of the state’s energy came from coal. “By 2030, it will be down to 16%, so we will be dropping off one of the major sources of energy production.”

The resolution, which the Badger Institute supports, cites growing energy demands as well as achieving reduced carbon emission goals, creating high-paying jobs, and spurring development and investment.

Wisconsin currently has only one operating nuclear power plant, the Point Beach Nuclear Plant north of Two Rivers that produces about 16% of the electricity generated in Wisconsin. We also have one closed but intact plant, Kewaunee Power Station, 4 miles to the north of Point Beach.

Either site could accommodate a new reactor of about 1,100 megawatts, approximately the current output of Point Beach, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. One such reactor at each site would about triple the power available to Wisconsinites from nuclear generation.

Steffen said the resolution is meant to encompass the consideration of both expanding traditional nuclear energy and adopting next-generation advanced technology, which includes small modular reactors, as well as fusion.

Mike Nichols is the President of the Badger Institute. 

Any use or reproduction of Badger Institute articles or photographs requires prior written permission. To request permission to post articles on a website or print copies for distribution, contact Badger Institute President Mike Nichols at mike@badgerinstitute.org or 262-389-8239.

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