[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 98 (Wednesday, June 8, 2022)]
[House]
[Page H5404]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   NUCLEAR ENERGY IS RENEWABLE ENERGY

  (Mr. LaMALFA asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. LaMALFA. Mr. Speaker, it is not just American oil and natural gas 
energies that are under attack. Another one of the Nation's top sources 
of energy, nuclear generation, has faced repeated operational obstacles 
and is facing threats of extinction.
  Nuclear power is one of the best choices for renewable energy we 
have. It is consistent, it runs 24/7, and it isn't intermittent or 
dependent on the weather like wind or solar. It takes up a small 
physical footprint, such as California's sole remaining reactors at 
Diablo Canyon, take up only 900 acres of land and provides nearly 10 
percent of California's energy portfolio and 23 percent of our carbon-
free generation that everybody is so worried about.
  It is affordable. Although power plants are expensive to build, like 
most things are, they are relatively cheap to run.
  Interestingly, nuclear generation has recently garnered widespread 
bipartisan support. Recently, last month, the Biden administration 
launched a $6 billion Federal effort to keep nuclear power plants open 
that are at risk of closing. Even California Governor Gavin Newsom 
seems to have reversed his opinion on nuclear energy and has expressed 
some level of support to keep Diablo Canyon open.
  Nuclear energy has had an unfair bad rap from past incidents, most 
notably Chernobyl. Well, this isn't the 1980s Soviet Union. This is the 
United States. We have the innovation and technological advances to 
make nuclear energy a cornerstone of our future in energy independence. 
We need to hang on to it.

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