New Jersey legislative committees advance bill to protect nuclear plants

Two committees of the New Jersey Senate and Assembly voted unanimously to advance an identical senate and assembly bill designed to prevent the early closure of New Jersey’s nuclear facilities.

The bill would give the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities the authority to provide ‘nuclear diversity credits’ to certain nuclear plants that can show they are at risk of premature closure because of insufficient compensation for their diversity, resilience, and emissions reductions attributes.

“The bill offers a ‘no regrets’ strategy for New Jersey — it provides assurances that investments in the plants will be sensible while protecting ratepayers as policies change in the future,” Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) President and CEO Maria Korsnick, who testified before the joint committees, said.

If the bill goes into effect, Public Service Enterprise Group (PSEG) could receive approximately $32 million. The company has said its two New Jersey nuclear plants could close within the next two years due to competition from natural gas.

The funds would be obtained through a rate increase of approximately $3.40 for the average residential customer.

New Jersey’s full legislative bodies could potentially vote on the bill before they adjourn on Jan. 8. A new legislative session begins on Jan. 9.

New Jersey has three nuclear plants with four reactors that have a combined summer capacity of approximately 4,000 megawatts, representing 22.3 percent of the state total.