The U.S. Departments of Energy and Defense on Sunday for the first time transported a small nuclear reactor on a cargo plane from California to Utah to demonstrate the potential to quickly deploy nuclear power for military and civilian use.
The agencies partnered with California-based Valar Atomics to fly one of the company’s Ward microreactors on a C-17 aircraft — without nuclear fuel — to Hill Air Force Base in Utah. Energy Secretary Chris Wright and Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment Michael Duffey were on the C-17 flight with the reactor and its components, and hailed the event as a breakthrough for U.S. nuclear energy and military logistics.
“This gets us closer to deploy nuclear power when and where it is needed to give our nation’s warfighters the tools to win in battle,” Duffey said.
President Donald Trump&#8217;s administration sees small nuclear reactors as one of several ways to expand U.S. energy production. Trump last May issued four executive orders aimed at boosting domestic nuclear deployment to meet growing demand for energy for national security and competitive AI advancements.
The Energy Department in December issued two grants to help accelerate development of small modular reactors.
Proponents of microreactors also have touted them as energy sources that can be sent to far-flung and remote places, offering an alternative to diesel generators which require frequent deliveries of fuel. But skeptics have argued that the industry has not proven that small nuclear reactors can generate power for a reasonable price.
&#8220;There is no business case for microreactors, which — even if they work as designed — will produce electricity at a far higher cost than large nuclear reactors, not to mention renewables like wind or solar,&#8221; said Edwin Lyman, director of nuclear power safety at the Union of Concerned Scientists.
The Energy Department plans to have three microreactors reach “criticality” — when a nuclear reaction can sustain itself — by July 4, Wright said.
The microreactor in Sunday&#8217;s event, a little larger than a minivan, can generate up to 5 megawatts of electricity, enough to power 5,000 homes, according to Valar CEO Isaiah Taylor. It will start operating in July at 100 kilowatts and peak at 250 kilowatts this year before ramping up to full capacity, he said.
Valar hopes to start selling power on a test basis in 2027 and become fully commercial in 2028. Although private industry funds its own development of nuclear technology, it also needs the federal government “doing some enabling actions to allow fuel fabrication here and uranium enrichment here,” he said.
Fuel for Valar&#8217;s reactor will be transported from the Nevada National Security site to the San Rafael facility, Wright told reporters.
However, even small generators result in a significant amount of radioactive waste, Lyman said. Other experts have said designers are not compelled to consider waste at inception, beyond a plan for how it will be managed.
Although disposal of nuclear waste remains an unresolved issue, the Energy Department is in talks with a few states, including Utah, to host sites that could reprocess fuel or handle permanent disposal, Wright said.
(Reporting by Valerie Volcovici; Editing by Sergio Non and Lincoln Feast.)

Microreactor

U.S. Conducts First Air Transport Of Nuclear Microreactor In Bid To Show Tech’s Viability

General

Nuclear

Nuclear Power

Technology

U.S.

The global conversation around artificial intelligence is framed as a technology race.
Yes, America is in an AI race, but that race will be over before it even starts if we do not secure reliable fuel to power it.
From a technical advancement standpoint, the AI race is a challenge of intellect: algorithms, chips, and computing architecture.
From an energy standpoint, however, it is a question of wisdom: Do we have the wisdom to make the right decisions now, to prioritize and properly utilize the abundant, affordable, and reliable energy resources we already possess?
AI runs on massive, continuous amounts of electricity. The nations that can deliver power at scale, at the lowest cost, and with the highest reliability will lead not only in AI, but in manufacturing, economic growth, and national security.
China understands this reality. In fact, China now generates more than twice as much electricity as the United States and continues to expand power infrastructure at a pace the U.S. has not matched in years.
If America intends to lead in AI, we must prioritize natural gas. It is the only fuel source today that is readily deployable, scalable, reliable, and affordable.
For the first time in more than half a century, U.S. electricity demand is growing at a sustained rate. The Department of Energy estimates the U.S. will need 50 to 150 gigawatts of new electric capacity within the next decade, describing the challenge as the Manhattan Project of our time. 
A single large data center can consume as much power as a heavy industrial facility. Data centers are modern-day industrial factories, operating 24/7 and requiring uninterrupted baseload power.
We must use wisdom when locating these facilities. Power generation can be built almost anywhere, but fuel cannot. Our grandfathers understood this. Steel mills and petrochemical plants were built near power plants, and power plants were built near fuel sources.
When new power demand is located far from the fuel source, costs rise, timelines stretch, and risks multiply. Long-haul transmission adds expense, energy loss, permitting complexity, disruption, and public opposition. Electricity is expensive not only to generate, but to move.
The most efficient solution is also the simplest: build new power demand on top of the fuel supply.
<div id="attachment_1022749" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1022749" class="size-large wp-image-1022749" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/01/GettyImages-2242629476-864x576.jpg" alt="The former General Motors and Foxconn factory in Lordstown, Ohio, US, on Thursday, Oct. 23, 2025. In August, Foxconn announced it had stuck a deal to sell the giant facility to SoftBank, with the two companies planning to start manufacturing data center equipment on the same site where GM cars including the Chevy Impala once came off the assembly line. Photographer: Kyle Grillot/Bloomberg via Getty Images" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/01/GettyImages-2242629476-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/01/GettyImages-2242629476-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/01/GettyImages-2242629476-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/01/GettyImages-2242629476.jpg 1024w" sizes=" (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />Kyle Grillot/Bloomberg via Getty Images</div>
There are two regions in the U.S. that are uniquely equipped. More than 80% of U.S. natural gas production is concentrated in two strategic regions: the Gulf Coast and the Shale Crescent USA (Ohio, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania). If these three states were a country, they would be the third-largest natural gas producer in the world, producing roughly one-third of all U.S. natural gas.
Natural gas in the Shale Crescent is among the lowest-cost in the industrialized world, roughly three to four times cheaper than Europe and Asia, and among the lowest-priced in the United States.
For high-load users like data centers, AI infrastructure, and advanced manufacturing, proximity to reliable baseload power is a strategic advantage.
Across the country, data centers are already struggling to secure power. Utilities are issuing moratoria, interconnection queues stretch into the next decade, and grid operators warn that demand is outpacing supply. 

America cannot out-AI China if China out-powers the United States.
The path forward is not mysterious, but it does require political will and wisdom. Natural gas must be treated as a strategic national asset, and the lowest-cost, lowest-risk path forward is to locate new data centers and power-intensive infrastructure directly on top of the fuel supply.
If we make that choice now, we can secure the energy foundation our AI future requires.
* * *
Nathan Lord is the President of Shale Crescent USA, a non-profit organization whose mission is to encourage business growth and create high wage jobs in Ohio, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania. Nathan is a graduate of Marietta College and earned his MBA from Liberty University.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Construction At The First Stargate AI Data Center

America Can’t Win The AI Race If China Wins The Power Race

Artificial Intelligence

China

Energy

Oil and Gas

power grid

As climate alarmists gather in New York City for “Climate Week,” a new mobile billboard has popped up that chips away at the alliance between Democrat Governor Kathy Hochul and radical environmental groups.
The mobile billboard features images of Hochul wearing a MAGA-style hat saying “Make Nuclear Great Again,” photos of the vehicle obtained by The Daily Wire show. The mobile billboard highlights Hochul’s recent promise to bring a new nuclear power plant to New York.
The billboard features a quote from Hochul describing plans for the new plant as “a model of 21st century nuclear design.” The mobile first started driving around New York City on Monday and will continue until Wednesday.
<div id="attachment_976045" style="width: 1290px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-976045" class="size-full wp-image-976045" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/MBB_6.jpeg" alt="" width="1280" height="960" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/MBB_6.jpeg 1280w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/MBB_6-300x225.jpeg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/MBB_6-768x576.jpeg 768w" sizes=" (max-width: 1280px) 100vw, 1280px" />Mobile billboard drives through NYC: Daily Wire.</div>
Nuclear power is a form of energy frequently opposed by environmentalist groups who prefer things like wind or solar power. The Daily Wire reached out to multiple environmentalist groups like the Sierra Club, the Natural Resources Defense Council, and Greenpeace that have previously expressed support for Hochul, yet also oppose nuclear energy.
The Sierra Club <a href="https://www.sierraclub.org/nuclear-free" target="_blank" rel="noopener">says</a> that it is “unequivocally opposed to nuclear energy” and wants to work to “phase out nuclear as quickly as possible.” The Natural Resource Defense Council has also <a href="https://www.nrdc.org/stories/nuclear-power-101" target="_blank" rel="noopener">expressed</a> skepticism about nuclear energy.
Both those organizations <a href="https://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/making-oil-companies-pay" target="_blank" rel="noopener">praised</a> Hochul’s <a href="https://www.nrdc.org/press-releases/governor-hochul-signs-bill-make-polluters-pay" target="_blank" rel="noopener">establishment</a> in December of a “Climate Superfund” that her office claimed <a href="https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/governor-hochul-signs-landmark-legislation-creating-new-climate-superfund" target="_blank" rel="noopener">shifted</a> “the cost of climate adaptation from everyday New Yorkers to the fossil fuel companies most responsible for the pollution.&#8221;
Additionally, Greenpeace <a href="https://www.greenpeace.org/usa/climate/issues/nuclear/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">says</a> that nuclear energy is “dirty, expensive, and dangerous” and argues that it’s “bad for the economy.” The organization previously <a href="https://www.greenpeace.org/usa/greenpeace-usa-applauds-new-york-governor-hochuls-moratorium-on-crypto-mining/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">applauded</a> Hochul after she signed a moratorium on crypto mining.
President Donald Trump, who ripped into solar and wind power on Tuesday during his speech to the United Nations, took executive action in May “to modernize nuclear regulation, streamline nuclear reactor testing, deploy nuclear reactors for national security, and reinvigorate the nuclear industrial base.”
Shortly after Trump’s announcement, Hochul <a href="https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/governor-hochul-directs-new-york-power-authority-develop-zero-emission-advanced-nuclear-energy" target="_blank" rel="noopener">directed</a> the New York Power Authority “to develop and construct a zero-emission advanced nuclear power plant.”
That decision was met with criticism from some environmentalists who accused her of adopting Trump policies. The group Public Power NY <a href="https://publicpowerny.org/press-releases/public-power-ny-responds-to-hochuls-order-for-new-york-power-authority-to-build-nuclear-energy/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> the decision was “based on promises from Donald Trump&#8221; that &#8220;shows just how unserious she is about New Yorkers&#8217; energy bills and climate future.”
Hochul, who is running for re-election, is viewed favorably by fewer than 50% of New Yorkers, <a href="https://sri.siena.edu/2025/09/16/hochul-approval-favorability-ratings-up-a-little-favorability-best-since-jan-24-majority-hochul-works-hard-demonstrates-honesty-integrity-plurality-gets-things-done-provides-dec/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to recent polling.

MixCollage-23-Sep-2025-04-07-PM-3120

Mobile Billboard Trolls Kathy Hochul In NYC As She Faces Criticism From Climate Activists

Climate Change

Environmentalists

Greenpeace

Kathy Hochul

New York

New York City

Oklo, an advanced nuclear technology company, announced on Thursday plans to build a “first-of-its-kind” nuclear fuel recycling center.
The first phase of the project is expected to cost nearly $1.7 billion and create 800 jobs. The facility, to be built in Tennessee, will be the first privately-funded nuclear fuel recycling center.
“Fuel is the single most important factor in bringing advanced nuclear energy to market,” Oklo co-founder and CEO Jacob DeWitte said in a statement. “By recycling used nuclear fuel at an industrial scale, we are turning waste into watts, cutting costs, and establishing a secure U.S. supply chain that will accelerate deployment of clean, reliable, and affordable power. Tennessee is showing the nation that recycling can be done commercially.”
Energy Secretary Chris Wright served on Oklo’s board of directors before being nominated to head the Department of Energy in the Trump administration.
The facility to be built will recycle used nuclear fuel, offering a potential solution to a divisive issue that has plagued the nuclear energy industry: how to dispose of spent fuel. Answers to the question have proven difficult, such as in the case of the <a href="https://19january2021snapshot.epa.gov/radiation/what-yucca-mountain-repository_.html">proposed</a> Yucca Mountain repository that has drawn strong opposition from local and state leaders in Nevada.
“The recycling facility will recover energy-bearing materials from used nuclear fuel to be fabricated into metallic fuel for fast reactors. Once used in a reactor, this process significantly reduces waste volumes for more economical, clean, and efficient disposal pathways,” the Oklo press release says.
The “metallic fuel” can be used the power fast reactors such as Oklo’s Aurora powerhouse, a zero-emission power plant that “only needs to be refueled once every decade (or longer),” according to <a href="https://oklo.com/energy/default.aspx">Oklo</a>. Maintenance on Aurora will take place more often, however.
&#8220;Everyone who wants American energy to be cleaner, more affordable, and more sustainable should be rejoicing today. Oklo&#8217;s program to turn Cold War-era plutonium into safe nuclear fuel for today — and tomorrow — is a bold and exciting achievement,” Jason Isaac, CEO of the American Energy Institute, told The Daily Wire in a statement.
Oklo and the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) are looking at more opportunities to collaborate, such as Oklo handling nuclear fuel recycling for the TVA and building other facilities in the state.
Energy and Environment Legal Institute senior policy fellow Steve Milloy, who worked on the 2016 Trump transition team, credited President Donald Trump with the project’s success. Trump signed an <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/05/deploying-advanced-nuclear-reactor-technologies-for-national-security/">executive order</a> in May encouraging “the rapid development, deployment, and use of advanced nuclear technologies to support national security objectives.”
“President Trump’s leadership is the reason this breakthrough is happening. It’s telling that, even in the face of historic progress, anti-nuclear activists would rather tear down solutions than acknowledge success. This project offers the American people exactly what they deserve: affordable, reliable, and clean energy,” Milloy told The Daily Wire in a statement.

Jacob DeWitte

Red State To House ‘First-Of-Its-Kind’ Recycling Center For Used Nuclear Fuel

Department of Energy

Donald Trump

Tennessee

The Trump administration plans to make available about 20 metric tons of Cold War-era plutonium from dismantled nuclear warheads to U.S. power companies as a potential fuel for reactors, according to a source familiar with the matter and a draft memo outlining the plan.
Plutonium has previously only been converted to fuel for commercial U.S. reactors in short-lived tests. The plan would follow through on an executive order signed by President Donald Trump in May ordering the government to halt much of its existing program to dilute and dispose of surplus plutonium, and instead provide it as a fuel for advanced nuclear technologies.
The Department of Energy, or DOE, plans to announce in coming days it will seek proposals from industry, said the source who spoke on the condition of anonymity. The source cautioned that because the plan is still a draft, its final details could change pending further discussions.
The plutonium would be offered to industry at little to no cost &#8212; with a catch. Industry will be responsible for costs of transportation, designing, building, and decommissioning DOE-authorized facilities to recycle, process and manufacture the fuel, the memo said.
The details on the volume of the plutonium, industry&#8217;s responsibilities in the plan and the potential timing of a U.S. announcement, have not been previously reported. The 20 metric tons would be drawn from a larger, 34-metric-ton stockpile of weapons-grade plutonium that the United States had previously committed to dispose of under a non-proliferation agreement with Russia in 2000.
The Department of Energy did not confirm or deny the Reuters reporting, saying only that the department is &#8220;evaluating a variety of strategies to build and strengthen domestic supply chains for nuclear fuel, including plutonium,&#8221; as directed by Trump&#8217;s orders.
<a href="https://get.dailywire.com/subscribe/plus/?utm_campaign=summer&amp;utm_content=editorialsummersale&amp;utm_medium=website&amp;utm_source=editorial" target="_blank" rel="noopener">End of Summer Sale – Get 40% off New DailyWire+ Annual Memberships</a>
Boosting the U.S. power industry is a policy priority for the Trump administration as U.S. electricity demand rises for the first time in two decades on the boom in data centers needed for artificial intelligence.
The idea of using surplus plutonium for fuel has raised concerns among nuclear safety experts who argue a previous similar effort failed.
Under the 2000 agreement, the plutonium was initially planned to be converted to mixed oxide fuel, or MOX, to run in nuclear power plants. But in 2018, the first Trump administration killed the contract for a MOX project that it said would have cost more than $50 billion.
The U.S. Energy Department holds surplus plutonium at heavily guarded weapons facilities including Savannah River in South Carolina, Pantex in Texas, and Los Alamos in New Mexico. Plutonium has a half-life of 24,000 years and must be handled with protective gear.
Until Trump&#8217;s May order, the U.S. program to dispose of the plutonium has involved blending it with an inert material and storing it in an experimental underground storage site called the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico.
The Energy Department has estimated that burying the plutonium would cost $20 billion.
&#8220;Trying to convert this material into reactor fuel is insanity. It would entail trying to repeat the disastrous MOX fuel program and hoping for a different result,&#8221; said Edwin Lyman, a nuclear physicist at the Union of Concerned Scientists.
&#8220;The excess plutonium is a dangerous waste product and DOE should stick to the safer, more secure and far cheaper plan to dilute and directly dispose of it in WIPP.&#8221;
(Reporting by Timothy Gardner; Editing by Richard Valdmanis and Lisa Shumaker)

Trump Plans To Make Cold War-Era Plutonium Available For Nuclear Power

Shyam Sankar, chief technology officer of Palantir, said during an interview this week that the U.S. needs to produce the world&#8217;s first <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/nuclear-power" target="_blank" rel="noopener">nuclear-powered</a> cargo ship.
Sankar made the remarks during a talk with conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt, who said that Sankar was &#8220;widely tipped to be part of President-elect Trump’s incoming senior leadership at DOD.&#8221;
He said that to continue having the U.S. be the world&#8217;s dominant naval power means that the U.S. also needs to remain the world&#8217;s dominant commercial shipping power.
&#8220;We still have a massive asymmetric advantage with our nuclear reactors,&#8221; he said. &#8220;I think we should build the first commercial nuclear-powered cargo ship fleet in the world that are American-flagged, American-made, leveraging our military’s greatest technology, driving the lowest cost of shipping in the world, bringing down inflation and the input costs, and use that to bootstrap and rebuild a massive bolus of investment into shipyards.&#8221;
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Palantir CTO <a href="https://twitter.com/ssankar?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ssankar</a> to <a href="https://twitter.com/hughhewitt?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@hughhewitt</a>: “I think we should build the first commercial nuclear-powered cargo ship fleet in the world that are American flagged, American made, leveraging our military’s greatest technology, driving the lowest cost of shipping in the world, bringing… <a href="https://t.co/6OVczkrp6Y">pic.twitter.com/6OVczkrp6Y</a>
— Conservative War Machine (@WarMachineRR) <a href="https://twitter.com/WarMachineRR/status/1867583903407472648?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 13, 2024</a></blockquote>
Alex Karp, the co-founder and CEO of Palantir, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/palantir-ceo-alex-karp-eviscerates-democrats-voters-do-not-want-to-hear-your-woke-pagan-ideology" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> late last week that Americans expect the U.S. to be the most lethal fighting force in the world and that the country has an obligation to be that.
“Americans are the most loving, God-fearing, fair, least discriminatory people on the planet,” he said. “They want to know that if you’re waking up and thinking about harming American citizens, or if American citizens are taken hostage and kept in dungeons, or if you’re a foreign power sending fentanyl to poison our people, something really bad is going to happen to you and your friends and your cousins, and your bank account and your mistress, and whoever was involved.”
<a href="https://get.dailywire.com/gift-guide/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CHECK OUT THE DAILY WIRE HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE</a>
He continued, “When Americans are spending a trillion dollars on ‘defense,’ what I want and what I think my peers want is: why are these people keeping our citizens as hostages, torturing our people, attacking our allies, maligning us in what was once called the United Nations — basically a discriminatory institution against anything good? We need to stand up and those people need to be scared.”
He said that it was critical for the U.S. to dominate because “we have the best products in the world, and we cannot have parity.”
“Our adversaries do not have our moral compunction,” he said. “If it is even, they will take advantage of our niceness, our kindness, our desire to be at home in Nebraska and New Hampshire or wherever we live, in our peaceful environments.”
“They need to wake up scared, and go to bed scared, and if you give that to the American people, the American people will go back and say — and honestly, I probably shouldn’t say this, this is why I thought the Democrats were going to lose the election, and why they did, because people want to live in peace,” he continued. “They want to go home. They do not want to hear your woke pagan ideology. They want to know they’re safe. And safe means the other person is scared. That’s how you make someone safe.”
“The average American person understands this,” he concluded. “Unfortunately, many of the intellectually captured institutions, funneled and intellectually owned by the Berkeley faculty, do not. That’s what they want. It is sure as hell what I want. And that is why Palantir and all the people in this room, I hope, are here to serve the American people. And my version of service is, the soldiers are happier, the enemies are scared, and Americans go back to enjoying the fact that we’re the only ones with a real tech scene in this country and we’re going to win everything.”

The First Breakfast Reception

Palantir CTO Proposes U.S. Build World’s First Nuclear-Powered Cargo Ships To Lower Inflation

Department of Defense

Military

CNN host <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/dana-bash" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Dana Bash</a> was slammed for lying on Tuesday about remarks made between former President Donald Trump and X owner Elon Musk during a conversation they had this week.
Bash played a deceptively edited clip from the X Space interview where Trump and Musk discussed some of the risks involved with nuclear energy, particularly if people are able to move back to areas where nuclear power-plants have had accidents.
The clip that Bash played for CNN viewers contained the following exchange:
<blockquote>MUSK: Hiroshima and Nagasaki were bombed, but now they’re full cities again, so-
TRUMP: Right. Right. Right. That&#8217;s great.
MUSK: So, it’s not as scary as people think basically.</blockquote>
After Bash played the clip, she said that they were &#8220;sort of suggesting that what happened almost 80 years ago next year, the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, now it&#8217;s okay.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
OMG watch this clip.
CNN selectively cuts part of the Elon/Trump conversation about nuclear energy last night to make it seem like they were saying that the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were no big deal.
They are so dishonest! <a href="https://t.co/z2ma1zJ6dJ">pic.twitter.com/z2ma1zJ6dJ</a>
— MAZE (@mazemoore) <a href="https://twitter.com/mazemoore/status/1823413580038857108?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 13, 2024</a></blockquote>
Bash&#8217;s remarks were a blatant distortion of what Musk and Trump were discussing.
What really happened was Trump started talking about what he believed the greatest threat was to the U.S. and to the rest of the world, which he said was &#8220;not climate climate,&#8221; but the proliferation of nuclear weapons.
&#8220;And when I talk about I’ll prevent World War III, I will,&#8221; Trump said. &#8220;But the truth is that you have to, because this is no longer army tanks going back and forth and shooting at each other. This a level of destruction and power that nobody’s ever seen before.&#8221;
At that point, Musk noted that the &#8220;bad side of nuclear&#8221; technology was &#8220;nuclear war,&#8221; but that there was also a good side to nuclear technology, which is &#8220;nuclear electricity generation.&#8221;
<a href="http://www.amiracist.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.amiracist.com/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1722714742764000&amp;usg=AOvVaw1XzmEsRwzti1RFNuISwYgd">WATCH THE TRAILER FOR ‘AM I RACIST?’ — A MATT WALSH COMEDY ON DEI</a>
&#8220;People have this fear of nuclear electricity generation, but it’s actually one of the safest forms of electricity generation,&#8221; Musk said. &#8220;It’s just a huge misunderstanding. And if you look at the injuries and deaths caused by, say … I’m not going to try to pick on coal mining, but just any kind of mining operation, and there’s a certain number of injuries and deaths per year. When you compare that to nuclear, nuclear is actually way better. So it is underrated as an electricity source, and I think it’s something that’s worth reconsidering, but there’s so much regulation that people can’t get it done.&#8221;
Trump and Musk both agreed that part of the problem was the branding surrounding the word &#8220;nuclear&#8221; and how fear around that word scares people away from embracing it.
Trump then talked about nuclear accidents that happened in Japan at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant and in the former Soviet Union at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant and how some have said that people will not be able to return to live in those areas for thousands of years.
&#8220;No, that’s not true,&#8221; Musk responded. &#8220;It’s actually not that bad. So after Fukushima happened in Japan, people were asking me in California, &#8216;Are we worried about a nuclear cloud coming from Japan?&#8217; I’m like, &#8216;No, that’s crazy. It’s actually … It’s not even dangerous in Fukushima.&#8217; I actually flew there and ate locally grown vegetables on TV to prove it. And I donated a solar-powered system for a water treatment plant.&#8221;
Musk continued, &#8220;Hiroshima and Nagasaki were bombed, but now they’re full cities again, so it&#8217;s really not as scary as people think, basically.&#8221;
Bash&#8217;s framing of the U.S. using nuclear weapons to end WWII as being somehow morally reprehensible ignores the basic fact that historians, scientists, U.S. military officials, and even Japanese military officers from WWII have <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1946/12/if-the-atomic-bomb-had-not-been-used/376238/">acknowledged</a> that dropping the atomic bombs on Japan actually saved lives by bringing the war to a rapid conclusion instead of prolonging the fighting, which would have included the U.S. invading Japan and millions of people being killed — both American and Japanese.
Bash was slammed online for her deception from a variety of media personalities and even the Trump Campaign.
&#8220;Fake news CNN selectively edited President @realDonaldTrump and @elonmusk &#8216;s conversation last night to claim they said that the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings were not a big problem,&#8221; Trump said. &#8220;The full context shows they were talking about nuclear energy. All the fake news does is lie.&#8221;
Political commentator Anton Vuljaj posted on X: &#8220;Whether you like/dislike Trump doesn’t really matter…this is a pretty damning clip of CNN and explains why tens of millions of Americans have lost trust in the media.&#8221;
&#8220;What a joke,&#8221; said media analyst Joe Concha.
&#8220;This is terrible. It was obvious that @elonmusk was talking about how radiation declines over time,&#8221; said journalist Michael Shellenberger. &#8220;Some of the best research comes from Hiroshima &amp; Nagasaki. Are you going to correct your misinformation and apologize, @DanaBashCNN?&#8221;
The House Republican Conference posted on X: &#8220;CNN is FAKE NEWS.&#8221;

Dana Bash

CNN’s Dana Bash Slammed For Lying About Remarks Made By Trump, Musk During Their Talk

Elon Musk

Media

Politics

Billionaire Bill Gates said during an interview over the weekend that he believes that support for nuclear power is high in both of America&#8217;s major political parties.
Gates made the remarks during a Sunday CBS News interview with Margaret Brennan on &#8220;Face the Nation&#8221; when asked about a a new nuclear power plant that is now being built in Wyoming.
He said that he wants the U.S. to build dozens of new nuclear power plants and that it should try to get more than 100 built.
Addressing the possibility of nuclear power plant melting down, Gates said: &#8220;A problem when you shut a rector down it still has heat. That&#8217;s why Chernobyl was a problem and Fukushima. Our design, that goes away because since we use this sodium to cool everything, it can absorb all that heat. And so those accidents were both first in generation, second generation reactors. The third generation reactors dealt with that with a lot of complexity. So, those reactors are quite safe, but the cost overruns meant that the electricity will be very, very expensive. We solved the safety problem with a much simpler approach, but we have to start from scratch.&#8221;
He said that he was &#8220;quite confident&#8221; that there will be support for continuing to expand America&#8217;s arsenal of nuclear power plants regardless of who wins the election this fall.
&#8220;I meet with lots of Republicans. I meet with lots of Democrats,&#8221; he said. &#8220;I&#8217;d say that the support for nuclear power is very impressive in both parties. The reasons they support nuclear power may not be identical. The Republicans may emphasize the security issues, you know, energy security, exporting these power things to the entire world. The Democrats value those things but they also value that it&#8217;s a clean source of energy.&#8221;
&#8220;You really don&#8217;t want the nuclear reactors around the world made by your adversaries because it&#8217;s economically a huge job creator and because the materials involved in these reactors possibly could be diverted,&#8221; he later added. &#8220;You want your eye on, you know, making sure that it&#8217;s not feeding into some military-related activity. And so the U.S. leadership in this space has a lot of strategic benefits.&#8221;
WATCH:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="Bill Gates says there&#039;s &quot;impressive&quot; support for nuclear power amid new Wyoming plant" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/5xYAQX6HRGg?start=1&#038;feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Bill Gates

Bill Gates On New Nuclear Plant In Wyoming: ‘Support For Nuclear Power Is Very Impressive In Both Parties’

<a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/energy" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Electricity</a> prices in <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/finland" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Finland</a> plummeted into negative territory this week after the launch of a new <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/nuclear-power" target="_blank" rel="noopener">nuclear</a> power plant last month.
The development comes months after officials in the Nordic nation were raising the alarm over widespread energy shortages, a reality induced by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Energy producers are now discussing mechanisms to reduce production as power becomes so abundant that prices venture into negative territory.
&#8220;Production is high, consumption is low, and now we are in a situation where it is not easy to adjust production,&#8221; Fingrid CEO Jukka Ruusunen said in an <a href="https://yle.fi/a/74-20033326" target="_blank" rel="noopener">interview</a> with Yle News. “Last winter, the only thing people could talk about was where to get more electricity. Now we are thinking hard about how to limit production. We have gone from one extreme to another.”
Power company TVO launched a new <a href="https://www.tvo.fi/en/index/production/plantunits/ol3.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reactor</a> at the Olkiluoto Nuclear Power Plant last month; nearly one-third of the nation’s power now comes from the facility. The electricity from the plant is sufficient to power 5.2 million apartments or charge 3.6 million electric cars, marking a significant amount of power production for Finland, which has 5.5 million residents.
Average spot electricity prices in Finland declined from $264 in December to $65 in April, according to a <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/business/energy/2023/05/14/nuclear-power-helps-bring-down-electricity-prices-by-75-in-finland/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a> from the National News. Utility companies are unable to decrease energy output through hydropower, the typical domain in which electricity production can be reduced, because of excess snowmelts.
“Operators in Finland and the surrounding areas are now monitoring the situation. If hydropower can&#8217;t be regulated, then it will probably be nuclear power next. Production that is not profitable at these prices is usually removed from the market,&#8221; Ruusunen continued. &#8220;Now there is enough electricity, and it is almost emission-free. So you can feel good about using electricity.”
Finland and other nations in the European Union abide by the <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/clima/eu-action/climate-strategies-targets/2050-long-term-strategy_en" target="_blank" rel="noopener">goal</a> of becoming “a climate-neutral society” by 2050 in accordance with the European Green Deal and the Paris Climate Agreement. Despite the success of nuclear power in promoting emission-free electricity, many countries are shuttering the facilities over safety concerns: Germany closed the nation’s three remaining nuclear energy plants last month, marking an end to the economic bellwether’s use of the power source even as authorities <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/germany-reverts-to-burning-coal-will-keep-two-nuclear-plants-open-ahead-of-winter-months" target="_blank" rel="noopener">resumed</a> coal production due to energy shortages.
“The risks of nuclear power are ultimately uncontrollable; that’s why the nuclear phaseout makes our country safer, and avoids more nuclear waste,” German Environment Minister Steffi Lemke, a member of the Green Party, said earlier this year, according to a <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/germany-shuts-down-its-last-nuclear-power-stations/a-65249019" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a> from German state-funded media outlet Deutsche Welle.
Other nations, such as the Netherlands and Poland, are slated to expand their nuclear systems, while Belgium is delaying a previously enacted phaseout. Some countries, on the other hand, proceeded with shutdowns of nuclear facilities despite catastrophic increases in energy prices last year: Switzerland <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/swiss-nuclear-power-plant-cuts-production-in-middle-of-energy-crisis-to-protect-local-fish" target="_blank" rel="noopener">slowed</a> production at one nuclear power plant to avoid raising nearby river temperatures and thereby protect local fish populations.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has meanwhile <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/european-union-social-market-economy-might-redistribute-fossil-fuel-profits" target="_blank" rel="noopener">proposed</a> mechanisms to reduce “overall electricity consumption,” an initiative funded by the redistribution of profits from oil and natural gas companies.

Finland Nuclear Reactor

Finland Went From Energy Shortage To Negative Power Prices. Here’s How They Did It. 

Finland Went From Energy Shortage To Negative Power Prices Thanks To Nuclear Power

European Union

Finland

World

<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/germany" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Germany</a> will shutter the nation’s three remaining <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/nuclear-power" target="_blank" rel="noopener">nuclear</a> energy plants on Saturday, marking an end to the <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/economy" target="_blank" rel="noopener">economic</a> bellwether’s utilization of the power source despite threats to <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/energy" target="_blank" rel="noopener">energy</a> security posed by the Russian invasion of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/ukraine-russia-war" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Ukraine</a>.
Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel approved the gradual closure of the nation’s nuclear plants following the 2011 nuclear meltdown in Fukushima, Japan. The closure of Emsland, Neckarwestheim II, and Isar II, the remaining three nuclear plants in the country, was slated to occur last year but was delayed until this month over concerns about energy security, since Germany imported more than half of its natural gas reserves from Russia ahead of the war.
&#8220;The risks of nuclear power are ultimately uncontrollable; that&#8217;s why the nuclear phaseout makes our country safer, and avoids more nuclear waste,” German Environment Minister Steffi Lemke, a member of the Green Party, said at the end of last month, according to a <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/germany-shuts-down-its-last-nuclear-power-stations/a-65249019" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a> from German state-funded media outlet Deutsche Welle.
The popularity of nuclear energy in Germany rose amid the soaring energy prices in the early 1970s. The Chernobyl nuclear meltdown in 1986 provoked widespread hesitance toward the power source and inaugurated decades of politically charged debate over nuclear energy policy, according to an <a href="https://world-nuclear.org/information-library/country-profiles/countries-g-n/germany.aspx" target="_blank" rel="noopener">analysis</a> from the World Nuclear Association. Nuclear energy once accounted for one-third of electricity supplies in Germany.
The Netherlands and Poland will meanwhile expand their nuclear systems while Belgium is delaying a previously enacted phaseout. Some nations, on the other hand, proceeded with shutdowns of nuclear facilities despite catastrophic increases in energy prices induced by the conflict in Ukraine. Switzerland, for example, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/swiss-nuclear-power-plant-cuts-production-in-middle-of-energy-crisis-to-protect-local-fish" target="_blank" rel="noopener">slowed</a> production at one nuclear power plant to avoid raising nearby river temperatures and thereby protect local fish populations.
The elevated energy prices severely <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/european-companies-pause-production-as-energy-prices-soar" target="_blank" rel="noopener">impacted</a> the continent’s economy in the fall and winter as a number of manufacturers in central Europe shuttered their operations due to the cost increases. Several nations meanwhile <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/switzerland-may-jail-people-who-turn-heat-above-66-degrees-this-winter" target="_blank" rel="noopener">imposed</a> mandates for power usage, prohibiting residents from raising their thermostats or lowering their air conditioners beyond certain levels.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/european-union-social-market-economy-might-redistribute-fossil-fuel-profits" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced</a> last year that she would introduce standards for European Union member states to reduce “overall electricity consumption” funded by redistributing profits from oil and gas companies.
“We are proposing a cap on the revenues of companies that produce electricity at a low cost. These companies are making revenues they never accounted for, they never even dreamt of,” von der Leyen said. “In our social market economy, profits are good. But in these times it is wrong to receive extraordinary record profits benefitting from war and on the back of consumers. In these times, profits must be shared and channeled to those who need it the most.”
<a href="https://onelink.to/dwapp" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" aria-describedby="sk-tooltip-9096" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://onelink.to/dwapp&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1681556259718000&amp;usg=AOvVaw0IzcWK1Qw17XtLbQU3xjQd">CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILYWIRE+ APP</a>
The European Union, in accordance with the European Green Deal and the Paris Climate Agreement, abides by the <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/clima/eu-action/climate-strategies-targets/2050-long-term-strategy_en" target="_blank" rel="noopener">goal</a> of becoming “a climate-neutral society” by 2050. Though von der Leyen has <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/european-union-intends-to-flatten-the-curve-for-electricity-use" target="_blank" rel="noopener">acknowledged</a> that low hydropower generation caused by droughts is partially responsible for high energy prices in Europe, she said that “the climate crisis” is the ultimate impetus for the weather conditions and called for the elimination of all fossil fuel dependence.
Policymakers in the United States have similarly asserted that rising energy prices must increase the urgency of a transition toward renewable power. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/energy-secretary-lays-out-the-only-way-to-avoid-high-gas-prices-and-its-not-producing-more-oil" target="_blank" rel="noopener">contended</a> last year that the “only way out” of “boom-and-bust cycles” in energy prices is “deploying clean energy.”

Nuclear phase-out in Germany – Emsland nuclear power plant

Germany Shuts Down Remaining Nuclear Power Plants Despite Threats To Energy Security

Germany Shuts Down Remaining Nuclear Power Plants

Europe

Germany

Ukraine-Russia War

Green energy has been a very hot topic for the last several years. Windmills and solar power have dominated the discussion. New York&#8217;s Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) has championed her Green New Deal. President Joe Biden’s inappropriately named Inflation Reduction Act served to only inject money into Mrs. Ocasio-Cortez’s green plans.
The truth that most supporters of “green energy” neglect is that you cannot have a serious conversation about green energy without discussing nuclear power.  
In 2021, 61% of “electricity generation came from burning coal, natural gas, or petroleum. Only 20% of the electricity in the U.S. came from renewables, mostly wind energy, hydropower, and solar energy … another 19% came from nuclear power,” per <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/12/29/why-isnt-the-us-electrical-grid-run-on-100percent-renewable-energy-yet.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CNBC.</a>
Since nuclear power produces its energy via nuclear fission “rather than chemical burning, it generates baseload electricity with no output of carbon, the villainous element of global warming. Switching from coal to <a href="https://e360.yale.edu/features/why-nuclear-power-must-be-part-of-the-energy-solution-environmentalists-climate" target="_blank" rel="noopener">nuclear power</a> is radically decarbonizing, since nuclear power plants release greenhouse gasses only from the ancillary use of fossil fuels during their construction, mining, fuel processing, maintenance, and decommissioning – about as much as solar power,” according to author and historian Richard Rhodes. In fact, a 2019 report from the International Energy Agency says “over the past 50 years, the use of <a href="https://www.iea.org/reports/nuclear-power-in-a-clean-energy-system" target="_blank" rel="noopener">nuclear power</a> has reduced CO2 emissions by over 60 gigatons – nearly two years’ worth of global energy-related emissions,”
In addition, nuclear power is extremely inexpensive. The <a href="https://encoreuranium.com/benefits-of-nuclear/benefits-of-nuclear-energy-for-the-environment/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">cost</a> of nuclear power was $35/MWh in 2018. This is “less than half the cost of coal- and gas-fired power plants.”  
Many people will argue that nuclear is dangerous and a threat to the world. Nothing could be further from the truth. To quote <a href="https://www.frontier-cf252.com/blog/nuclear-energy-advantages/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bill Gates</a>, not a Right-wing advocate, “nuclear energy, in terms of an overall safety record, is better than other energy.” In nuclear power’s history as an energy source, “there have only been three major incidents worldwide.” Three incidents against the “backdrop of 60 years of nuclear <a href="https://www.frontier-cf252.com/blog/nuclear-energy-advantages/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">production</a>, totaling more than 17,000 cumulative reactor years … in 33 nations.”
<div id="attachment_515670" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-515670" class="size-large wp-image-515670" src="https://www.dailywire.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/GettyImages-538536811-864x576.jpg" alt="" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/03/GettyImages-538536811-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/03/GettyImages-538536811-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/03/GettyImages-538536811-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/03/GettyImages-538536811-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/03/GettyImages-538536811-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/03/GettyImages-538536811-1800x1200.jpg 1800w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/03/GettyImages-538536811-1200x800.jpg 1200w" sizes=" (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />Getty Images.</div>
Going 100% green is not practical. As <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2021-energy-land-use-economy/">Bloomberg</a> reports, in order to achieve President Biden’s goal of an emission-free grid by 2035, &#8220;the U.S. needs to increase its carbon-free capacity by at least 150%. Expanding wind and solar by 10% annually until 2030 would require a chunk of land equal to the state of South Dakota. By 2050, when Biden wants the entire economy to be carbon free, the U.S. would need up to four additional South Dakotas to develop enough clean power to run all the electric vehicles, factories and more.&#8221; Nuclear energy would require a much smaller footprint.  
In addition, there is enough energy in nuclear waste in the United States to “<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/06/02/nuclear-waste-us-could-power-the-us-for-100-years.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">power</a> the entire country for 100 years. The technology necessary to turn nuclear waste into energy is known as a nuclear fast reactor, and has existed for decades. For political and economic reasons, the technology has never been developed at commercial scale.” Imagine a source of energy where the waste can be recycled to create even more energy. Is there anything more green than that?
Is nuclear power the only answer? Certainly not. A balanced energy policy will include every available source: coal, natural gas, nuclear, wind, solar, and hydroelectric. If Mrs. Ocasio-Cortez and congress are serious about renewable and green energy, nuclear power must be a part of the plan.
<a href="https://onelink.to/dwapp" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILYWIRE+ APP</a>
Jim Nelles is a Navy veteran and supply chain consultant based in Chicago. His articles have appeared in the Washington Examiner, Newsweek, Foxnews.com, and The Daily Wire. He has served as a chief procurement officer, chief supply chain officer, and chief operations officer for multiple companies.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Tihange Nuclear Power Station

Why We Can’t Go Green Without Nuclear Energy

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

Green New Deal

Joe Biden

Readers Pass

The Biden <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/biden-administration" target="_blank" rel="noopener">administration</a> announced Monday it will put $1.1 billion towards keeping a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/nuclear" target="_blank" rel="noopener">nuclear</a> power plant up and running in California. 
The administration is providing Pacific Gas &amp; Electric Co. (PG&amp;E) with a $1.1 billion grant to assist the company in keeping the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant open, which is the last remaining nuclear plant in California. The money comes from the infrastructure measure that was passed by Congress last year. 
“This is a critical step toward ensuring that our domestic nuclear fleet will continue providing reliable and affordable power to Americans as the nation’s largest source of clean electricity,” Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/11/21/biden-grants-pge-1-billion-to-keep-diablo-canyon-nuclear-plant-open.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> in a statement.
While the plant was originally set to be shut down over the course of 2024 and 2025, state legislators <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/newsom-slams-critics-of-california-energy-says-they-wished-blackouts-had-happened" target="_blank" rel="noopener">voted</a> in September to keep it up and running for five additional years. Democratic Governor of California Gavin <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/gavin-newsom" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Newsom</a> has <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/newsom-open-to-keeping-major-nuclear-plant-operating-in-california" target="_blank" rel="noopener">moved</a> in favor of not shutting down the nuclear power plant and <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/newsom-proposes-plan-to-keep-nuclear-plant-open-legislature-has-weeks-to-decide" target="_blank" rel="noopener">proposed</a> an extension of the plant this year. 
California has struggled under its quick transition to renewable energy as the state faced rolling energy blackouts in August of 2020. Earlier this year, another heat wave plagued the state and residents were told to reduce their energy use at certain times of the day in order to keep the electric grid functioning.
Earlier this year, the state <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/05/07/1097376890/for-a-brief-moment-calif-fully-powered-itself-with-renewable-energy" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reached</a> 100% renewable energy, but energy sources such as wind and solar are not as reliable as fossil fuels and have put the state in a precarious situation during multiple days of high temperatures. In 2021, nuclear power <a href="https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=53899#:~:text=Nuclear%20power%20provided%20about%2010%25%20of%20California's%20total%20electricity%20supply%20in%202021&amp;text=In%202021%2C%20three%20nuclear%20power,about%2010%25%20of%20California's%20electricity." target="_blank" rel="noopener">made</a> up around 10% of the state&#8217;s electricity. Diablo Canyon provided more than 8%, with the remainder coming from Washington and Arizona.
In April, the administration <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/04/19/biden-administration-launches-6-billion-nuclear-plant-bailout/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">started</a> a program that will give financially struggling nuclear power plants in the United States $6 billion. The initiative was funded by the massive infrastructure legislation. 
U.S. Department of Energy authorities <a href="https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2022-11-21/biden-gives-pge-1-billion-to-keep-diablo-canyon-nuclear-plant-open" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> the funds for Diablo will be given out over the course of four years. The final details of the grant are still going to be worked out with the company, as well. 
PG&amp;E has been the source of controversy in the past. Last month, the company <a href="https://apnews.com/article/wildfires-business-fires-california-utilities-3a29b1577c7b4e767483ed015758234c" target="_blank" rel="noopener">faced</a> a potential $155 million fine for its connection to the Zogg fire in 2020 that resulted in the destruction of 200 residences and four deaths. It was also charged with criminal counts in the fire and pleaded not guilty to four charges of involuntary manslaughter over the summer.
State fire authorities have said the fire started when a tree fell onto one of the company’s distribution lines. The California Public Utilities Commission proposed the fine because it said the company did not get rid of two trees that had been designated to be removed, and one of them ended up falling down. 
At the time, PG&amp;E <a href="https://apnews.com/article/wildfires-business-fires-california-utilities-3a29b1577c7b4e767483ed015758234c" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> in a statement that it had come to a conclusive result with the civil claims of Shasta County. It had the <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/regulators-propose-155m-fine-pge-2020-wildfire-92091846" target="_blank" rel="noopener">option</a> to either pay the fine and take steps to correct its practices or ask for a hearing after the regulator advances the proposed order.

2C15B629-6D1F-4A22-AF9D-CBEDBFCE0359_1_201_a

Biden Administration Gives Over $1 Billion To Keep California’s Last Nuclear Plant Open

Biden Administration Gives Over $1 Billion To Keep California's Last Nuclear Plant Diablo Canyon Power Plant Open

California

Gavin Newsom

Jennifer Granholm

Menu