House Committee Moves to Extend Nuclear Power Production Tax Credit

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By Editors of Power Engineering

The U.S. House Ways and Means Committee approved a bill with bipartisan support that would extend the lifetime of a nuclear power production tax credit.

Currently, nuclear facilities need to enter into service by 2020 to be eligible for the credit. The legislation would remove that deadline and allow public and nonprofit entities to transfer credits to other stakeholders on nuclear projects, such as designers, The Hill reported.

The bill was introduced by Reps. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) and Tom Rice (R-S.C.).

"We need to give these plants the certainty of the tax credits as Congress originally intended, not just for South Carolina and Georgia, but for the continued innovation of carbon-free nuclear energy and the security of our nation," Rice said.

Expansions of the Virgil C. Summer nuclear station in South Carolina and the Alvin W. Vogtle Electric Generating Plant in Georgia are long-delayed and in question due to the bankruptcy of Westinghouse, Though Westinghouse corporate parent Toshiba agreed to pay Southern Company $3.68 billion for the Vogtle project.

The Hill reported Democrats and Republican lawmakers have urged the committee to also pass legislation that would extend tax credits for renewable energy.

The Ways and Means Committee had approved a similar version of the nuclear bill last year, but it did not pass in the full House. 

 

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