Now is the Time to ‘Get Busy’ on Nuclear Resurgence, Sessions Says

“Time’s a wastin’ ” was the repeated message guest speaker Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) imparted to attendees at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s Regulatory Information Conference last week.

In remarks aimed at Congress, federal agencies and the nuclear industry itself, Sessions—who serves on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee—said the United States for too long has foregone pursuing nuclear energy as an important part of the answer to the growing need for a secure energy source to help meet the country’s growing energy needs while meeting clean air goals.

Sessions said he hopes we will one day look back at the restart of the Browns Ferry plant last year as the starting point of a nuclear resurgence. He noted that his state has five operating reactors with applications submitted for two more.

“It’s clear nuclear power ain’t dead yet, as we might say in Alabama,” Sessions said.

The lawmaker recounted the frustration he felt after touring the Bellefonte plant shortly after entering the Senate in 1997.

“That’s a $4 billion facility,” Sessions said. “It looks like you could walk into the control room and start it up. I couldn’t help but think how much CO2, mercury, nitrogen oxide and sulfur oxide has been emitted because that never started up. It’s a great tragedy; and one that is replicated too often around the country.”