May-June 2018 NPJ

Making the Right Choices By Maria Korsnick, Nuclear Energy Institute. Maria Korsnick Maria Korsnick is president and chief executive officer of the Nuclear Energy Institute, the nuclear industry’s policy organization in Washington, D.C. Drawing on her engineering background, hands- on experience in reactor operations and a deep knowledge of energy policy and regulatory issues, Korsnick aims to increase understanding of nuclear energy’s economic and environmental benefits among policymakers and the public. Before joining NEI, she was senior vice president of Northeast Operations for Exelon, responsible for overseeing operation of the Calvert Cliffs 1 and 2, R.E. Ginna, and Nine Mile Point 1 and 2 nuclear power plants. Before Exelon, Korsnick served as chief nuclear officer (CNO) and acting chief executive officer at Constellation Energy Nuclear Group. She began her career at Constellation in 1986 and held positions of increasing responsibility, including engineer, operator, manager, site vice president, corporate vice president, and CNO. Korsnick holds a bachelor’s degree in nuclear engineering from the University of Maryland, and has held a Senior Reactor Operator license. Maria Korsnick’s speech at the Financial Community Annual Briefing 2018 on April 12, 2018. Each day we hear news about nuclear energy, fromAkron to Trenton to Riyadh. The prominence of these events—what makes them newsworthy—is a reflection of how nuclear energy is central to so many of the issues we care about. Jobs, health, national security, the climate. Nuclear energy matters because we care about the big ideas that define our way of life, and enable human health, safety, comfort and prosperity around the world. The future of nuclear energy will be shaped by the choices being made by the White House and Congress, by in- dividual companies, by state legislatures and governors and by federal agencies. And to be clear—there are choices to be made. They will also come from entrepreneurs, students and con- cerned citizens who become grassroots advocates. Let’s also be clear about one more thing—if we fail to act, we have still, in fact, made a choice. The market is forcing us to make fundamental choices. Do we want to preserve a diverse electric system? Do we want to be prepared when fossil fuel prices change again? When weather extremes create competing demands for natural gas, or freeze the coal piles? Do we want to hold on to clean air? Do we want to sustain the industrial base and talent base that is linked to our national security? We didn’t have to stress these virtues ten years ago, but in today’s market, we do. Nuclear energy produces no air emissions. It does that in a lot of places where zero-emission energy is essential, because the downwind air quality is already bad. We operate with months or years of fuel already on site, so we are invulnerable to problems with pipelines, barges or railroads. We run well in cold weather and hot weather, and we either ride through hurricanes, or we’re ready as soon as the grid gets restarted. So, we are here to talk about why we are important. Vital, in fact, to maintaining the resiliency of our electric system. Electricity is at the heart of our economy, our health and our comfort. We are passionate about preserving our industry, which produces almost 20 percent of our electricity and more than 56 percent of our carbon-free power. I want to tell you what we are doing to meet these challenges. Part of our response is to help inform the choices that are being made. We have sought to step back from the hourly news cycle and try to provide a framework for understanding these decisions. We call it the National Nuclear Energy Strategy. The strategy has four priorities. First, to preserve the operating nuclear fleet that we have today. We do that by working to ensure that the attributes of nuclear power are properly valued, so that no well-run plant is driven into early retirement. Second, we must sustain the efficient operation of the nuclear facilities. This means ensuring that we are running our plants as efficiently as we can, while applying regulations that are appropriate for the risks we face. Third, we must innovate by developing and deploying advanced technologies that expand the ways that we use nuclear energy. And fourth, the U.S. nuclear industry needs a level playing field to thrive internationally. Let me use these strategic priorities to frame the choices that will matter. As we think about preserving the nuclear fleet now 99 reactors, the choice before us is how we should value the benefits that nuclear energy provides. Nuclear plants that operate in competitive wholesale markets are obviously under significant economic stress. Six reactors closed in the last five years, and we lose 38 million megawatt-hours of emissions- free electricity every year. Plant owners have announced their intention to close twelve more in the coming years. If nothing is done to save these plants, the impacts will be devastating. Thousands of jobs will be lost across the country. Our electricity grid will lose the diversity that has allowed it to withstand hurricanes, floods, extreme temperatures and other challenges. And we will lose a lot of non-emitting electricity. If all of these twelve plants close, we will lose over 120 million megawatt-hours of 26 NuclearPlantJournal.com Nuclear Plant Journal, May-June 2018