NC SB 266 would shield Duke from risk – after the corporation failed 19 times building reactors
NC WARN’s attorney and activists worked with Southeastern allies to help block over two dozen experimental Westinghouse reactors in the 2010s. Corner-cutting, deception and corporate arrogance were keys to the billions of dollars in failures.
- Duke Energy alone failed six times to build new nukes between 2005 and 2017, costing customers over $2 billion.
- Duke Energy failed 19 times while trying to build nuclear reactors from 1978 to 2017.
- Now, NC WARN is working with allies to challenge Duke Energy’s deceptive hype and dreams of building dozens of “small” modular reactors.
- NC Senate Bill 266 would let Duke raise power bills annually until at least 2035 as it tries to license and complete its first SMR – even if the plant is never completed.*
- Duke is trying to force the risks onto customers because its leaders are scared to gamble stockholders’ money (which includes their own) on new nukes.
- New nuclear power would be many times more costly than quickly deployable renewables, energy storage and energy-saving technologies.
Even if experimental nuclear designs are ever approved and successfully built, they would be far too slow, far too expensive and far too dangerous to help with the climate crisis.
Shame on politicians, regulators and news outlets if they keep pretending we haven’t all seen Duke Energy’s failure-driven horror movie 19 times in the past.
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*The bill also would help Duke Energy keep expanding gas-fired plants and suppressing renewables.
Now in its 37th year, NC WARN is building people power in the climate and energy justice movement to persuade or require Charlotte-based Duke Energy – one of the world’s largest climate polluters – to make a quick transition to renewable, affordable power generation and energy efficiency in order to avert climate tipping points and ongoing rate hikes.
