New Jersey Lifts Nuclear Moratorium, Second State to Do So This Year
Governor Mikie Sherrill signed a law at the Hope Creek Generating Station that ends New Jersey’s long-standing ban on new nuclear plants. The move lifts New Jersey’s nuclear moratorium and opens the door to fresh construction and innovation.
What the old law required
The state’s 1970s restriction blocked new reactor construction without a federal disposal plan. Lawmakers had tied new permits to a permanent solution for spent fuel.
The rule was added to the Coastal Area Facility Review Act. It reflected concerns about growing inventories of radioactive waste at commercial plants.
Signing at Hope Creek
Sherrill completed the repeal during a ceremony at Hope Creek. Steam rose from the station’s cooling tower behind her.
Hope Creek sits on an artificial island beside the two-reactor Salem plant. Both facilities are owned by PSEG.
Together the two stations supply about 40% of the state’s electricity. They deliver roughly 80% of New Jersey’s carbon-free power.
National waste policy and recent shifts
The federal government assumed responsibility for nuclear waste in the 1980s. It designated Yucca Mountain as the intended national repository.
Work on Yucca Mountain began under President George W. Bush. The project lost White House backing under President Obama.
A Government Accountability Office review said the policy change was driven more by politics than by technical problems. That move left U.S. waste policy stalled for decades.
The federal law still names Yucca Mountain as the first destination for waste. That requirement has complicated efforts to identify alternate sites.
New approaches: recycling and innovation
Recent federal efforts have shifted toward recycling and reprocessing spent fuel. Startups and national labs are pursuing fuel recycling and isotope extraction.
The Department of Energy recently closed applications for state nuclear innovation campus proposals. Those campuses could include enrichment and recycling activities.
Storage technology and local industry
Intermediate dry cask containers are widely used across the country. Many of those units are made at Holtec International’s Camden factory.
Sherrill argued the 1970s disposal standard was obsolete. The new law permits modern storage methods that have long been in commercial use.
Policy changes and next steps
State lawmakers adjusted the statute last year to allow small modular reactors. Those designs typically cap output at about 300 megawatts per unit.
A separate bill first introduced in December sought to repeal the moratorium and create a tax credit for advanced nuclear. That proposal aimed to finance at least 1,100 megawatts of new capacity.
That 1,100-megawatt target equals the output of a Westinghouse AP1000. The AP1000 is the only third-generation reactor design currently operating in the U.S.
Site potential and industry reaction
The Hope Creek–Salem site could accommodate additional large-scale capacity, experts say. Samuel Roland of the Foundation for American Innovation noted available space.
Roland tracked the bill at the right-leaning Washington think tank. Industry observers expect developers to evaluate the site for future projects.
The repeal makes New Jersey the sixth state in the past decade to drop such a ban. It also makes the state the second state to do so this year.
Reporting and analysis for this story were prepared for Filmogaz.com.
