[UPDATED] A document reviewed by business news agency Bloomberg reportedly includes several key questions concerning nuclear power asked by President-elect Donald Trump advisers of the U.S. Energy Department.
The questions reveal interest in small and large nuclear power reactors and issues concerning nuclear waste.
Specifically, Bloomberg reported that Trump's advisers were “looking at ways in which the U.S. government could help nuclear power generators being forced out of the electricity market by cheaper natural gas and renewable resources.”
The document specifically asked for ways in which the Energy Department could help “prevent the shutdown of plants,” calling attention to the five nuclear power plants in the country that have closed in the past five years, even while Bloomberg business analysts Rob Barnett and Kitt Konolige concluded recently that House Republicans would likely resist the idea of a federal bailout for the industry.
The document also broached the topic of renewing discussions on a national nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain in Nevada. It also queried the department on how it could support the development of small modular reactors.
The topic of support for nuclear power plants is timely, given Entergy's announcement this week that it would close the Palisades nuclear plant in Covert, Michigan, thirteen years before its operating license expires, while Consumers Energy, the plant's principle customer, said it had negotiated an out on its purchasing agreement that was meant to last until 2022, because it had found cheaper alternatives.
Trump has said he is "strongly" in favor of nuclear power, but has not outlined a federal approach to the industry.