nuclear-news

Texas Budget Throws a Lot of Tax Dollars at Unproven Nuclear Technology

The initial $750 million tax dollars invested could swell to $2 billion

 Public Citizen 11th April 2025

AUSTIN, Texas – The Texas House of Representatives gave initial approval early Friday to a state supplemental budget that includes $750 million in taxpayer giveaways to developers of advanced nuclear reactors, putting what could ultimately become a $2 billion bet on unproven technology.

The appropriation is part of House Bill 500 – a supplemental budget bill for the 2026-27 biennium – and directed toward the Texas Nuclear Power Fund. This new program would be created by another bill pending before the Legislature.

The initial $750 million in funds could become a $2 billion cost to taxpayers because of the program’s completion bonuses.

“Lawmakers have various strategies to choose from to fix the grid stability problems exposed by 2021’s Winter Storm Uri,” said Adrian Shelley, Texas director of Public Citizen. “With this budget’s subsidies for unproven nuclear technology, lawmakers are again going with the pricier, much harder-to-implement option that its proponents admit will take years to pay off. It’s a promise that comes with a giant “if” and wastes valuable time in the race to fix the grid’s predicted demand and supply issues.”

Gov. Greg Abbott prioritized nuclear energy at the start of the legislative session. In response, legislators proposed the Texas Nuclear Power Fund to incentivize the development of so-called small modular reactors (SMR). However, the technology is not cost-competitive with other forms of power generation, including wind, solar and fossil fuels. The only publicly traded company in the United States trying to build SMRs has canceled six proposals in Idaho after cost overruns of 250%………..
https://www.citizen.org/news/texas-budget-throws-a-lot-of-tax-dollars-at-unproven-nuclear-technology/

April 14, 2025 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | politics, USA