The nuclear energy gamble: Higher electric bills for dirty energy

Proposed legislation would expand subsidies for small modular reactors despite unresolved questions about cost, safety, waste disposal, and taxpayer liability.

A bill that will be up for a New Jersey Assembly floor vote next week, A4881, forces electric suppliers to purchase Advanced Nuclear Energy Certificates and Reliable Capacity Certificates, creating an artificial market for small modular reactors, or SMRs, at the expense of consumers and competing energy sources.

This is market manipulation disguised as climate policy.

The economics simply do not work. Small modular reactors are estimated to cost roughly $14 million per megawatt to build, while utility-scale solar costs between $800,000 and $1 million per megawatt. Electricity from SMRs is projected to cost between $89 and $119 per megawatt-hour, compared with $25 to $50 per megawatt-hour for solar and wind.

New Jersey ratepayers will be forced to subsidize one of the most expensive forms of electricity ever proposed, while cleaner and less expensive alternatives are available today.

Instead of investing in renewable energy, battery storage, microgrids, transmission upgrades, and energy efficiency, the state is betting billions on an unproven technology that has yet to demonstrate commercial success in the United States.

Oyster Creek: The first test case

The first company lining up for this nuclear subsidy program is Holtec, which is proposing four SMR-300 reactors at Oyster Creek capable of producing approximately 1,200 megawatts of electricity, nearly twice the output of the original Oyster Creek nuclear plant.

The location raises serious concerns.

During Hurricane Sandy, floodwaters came dangerously close to critical reactor infrastructure. The site also has a history of groundwater contamination from radioactive tritium and sits in one of the fastest-growing regions of the state.

Oyster Creek faces increasing threats from rising sea levels, coastal flooding, stronger storms, and extreme weather driven by climate change. Building a new generation of reactors in a climate-vulnerable coastal area is a risky gamble that future generations could pay for dearly.

Will Gov. Sherrill fast-track nuclear power?

Gov. Sherrill has already championed policies designed to speed up development approvals through Operation FAST and expedited permitting initiatives. The question now is whether those same policies will be applied to nuclear power projects.

Will environmental reviews be shortened? Will DEP regulations be weakened in the name of affordability? Will coastal, water quality, and safety protections be waived to move projects through the approval process faster? Will cross-agency permitting teams be used to pressure agencies into approving projects before concerns are fully addressed?

A housing project is one thing. A nuclear reactor is something entirely different.

When the goal becomes getting to “yes” as quickly as possible, public safety and environmental protection become secondary concerns. Fast-tracking a nuclear power plant is a fast track to disaster.

Mini Chernobyls across New Jersey

One of the most dangerous aspects of SMRs is that the industry envisions deploying them at multiple locations around the state rather than concentrating them at a few existing facilities.

That means more communities living near radioactive materials, more transportation of nuclear fuel and waste, and more potential targets for accidents, sabotage, cyberattacks, or terrorism.

The industry claims SMRs are inherently safe. We have heard those promises before.

Chernobyl was supposed to be safe. Three Mile Island was supposed to be manageable. Fukushima was supposed to be protected.

Every generation of nuclear technology is marketed as fail-safe until something goes wrong.

Some SMR designs rely on liquid sodium or molten salt cooling systems that introduce additional safety concerns and create highly complex waste streams. Many proposals involve multiple reactors operating together at a single site, increasing the possibility of cascading failures if one unit experiences problems.

The waste problem never goes away

The nuclear industry still has no permanent solution for high-level radioactive waste.

Not one.

Despite decades of promises, there is no national repository for spent nuclear fuel in the United States. Yet politicians want to create even more radioactive waste and leave future generations to deal with the consequences.

Research indicates that some SMR designs may generate significantly more radioactive waste per unit of electricity than conventional reactors because of lower fuel efficiency and greater neutron leakage. That means more spent fuel, more contaminated materials, and more long-term storage problems.

This waste remains dangerous for thousands of years.

Future generations will inherit the costs, risks, and responsibilities long after the corporations that profited have disappeared.

Environmental justice and public health risks

The state cannot claim to support environmental justice while promoting new nuclear development in communities that already bear disproportionate pollution burdens.

Many potential reactor sites are located near industrial areas already affected by highways, ports, warehouses, incinerators, chemical facilities, and power plants. These communities have carried the burden of pollution for generations. They should not become radioactive sacrifice zones as well.

Nuclear power also carries impacts far beyond the reactor itself. Uranium mining contaminates land and groundwater, fuel enrichment consumes enormous resources, and radioactive materials must be transported and stored indefinitely.

There is nothing clean about the full nuclear fuel cycle.

The liability scam

Perhaps the most outrageous part of the nuclear industry is that it refuses to accept full responsibility for the consequences of a major accident.

Under the federal Price-Anderson Act, nuclear operators enjoy extraordinary liability protections. If a catastrophic disaster occurs, taxpayers ultimately shoulder much of the financial burden. The nuclear industry privatizes profits and socializes disasters.

The Fukushima disaster has cost tens of billions of dollars. No private nuclear company could cover damages on that scale.

No other industry receives this level of protection. Chemical companies, oil companies, and manufacturers can be held fully liable for the damage they cause. Nuclear corporations operate under a special shield that protects their profits while exposing the public to enormous financial risk.

Slowing down real climate solutions

The greatest tragedy of A4881 is not just the cost or the risk. It is the opportunity lost.

Every dollar spent subsidizing speculative nuclear projects is a dollar not invested in solutions that are already working. Solar energy, offshore wind, battery storage, energy efficiency, demand response, and modernized transmission systems can reduce emissions now without creating radioactive waste, security threats, or catastrophic accident risks.

SMRs remain a technology of promises and projections. Renewable energy is a technology of deployment and results.

By the time many SMRs become operational, renewable technologies will likely be cheaper, more efficient, and more widely available than they are today.

New Jersey should be accelerating the clean energy transition, not delaying it with another generation of nuclear dependency.

A dangerous step backward

A4881 is not energy policy. It is a corporate bailout for the nuclear industry disguised as climate action.

The bill shifts financial risks onto the public, raises electric rates, subsidizes expensive and unproven technology, weakens environmental oversight, and leaves future generations with radioactive waste and long-term liabilities. The governor is signing away our clean energy future to nuclear corporations.

New Jersey should be leading the nation in renewable energy, energy efficiency, climate resilience, and environmental justice. Instead, Trenton politicians are asking taxpayers and ratepayers to bankroll a new generation of nuclear reactors while assuming all the risk.

The people of New Jersey deserve better than mini Chernobyls funded through mandatory utility charges.

Tell your legislators: Vote no on A4881

A4881 is moving rapidly through the Legislature. It has already passed three Assembly committees — Telecommunications and Utilities, Commerce, and Appropriations — and is headed for a floor vote. In the Senate, it has already cleared the Environment Committee.

This bill is being rushed through before the public fully understands its consequences.

Take action now.

Call, write, and email your legislators. Tell them to reject A4881 before New Jersey is locked into higher electric rates, greater environmental risks, and decades of radioactive dependency.

We cannot afford this nuclear gamble.