The goal is to “incentivize earlier deployment by removing what I understand to be the single-biggest barrier,” said GOP Sen. Eric Koch, one of the bill’s sponsors, to the Indiana Capital Chronicle earlier this month. Koch also sponsored a bill in 2023 that required the IURC to adopt rules for constructing, purchasing, or leasing an SMR in the state.
A closer look: The text of the bill states that if a utility’s petition is approved, it can seek adjusted rates for “the timely recovery of project development costs.” As part of that request, however, the utility must inform the IURC of all efforts being pursued for funding from the U.S. Department of Energy to offset project costs.
The regulator will decide if the utility’s request is reasonable in amount; necessary to support the construction, purchase, and lease of a small modular reactor; and consistent with the commission’s finding as to the best estimate of project development costs.
The utility can only adjust rates once a year and may seek 80 percent of the approved project costs through that route—but the remaining 20 percent would be deferred until the utility’s next general rate case filed with the commission.
The legislation includes expenditures for design, engineering, environmental analysis, and permitting of a nuclear project, the Indiana Capital Chronicle reported.
Opposition: Kerwin Olson, executive director of Citizens Action Coalition, voiced strong opposition to the legislation, arguing that utilities could begin cost recovery in the next few years for a plant that might not come on line for a decade.
Indiana Rep. Matt Pierce (D., Bloomington), said SMRs are “not quite proven” and that Indiana should wait for the technology to get better and cheaper. Advancing Koch’s proposal now, he said, would make ratepayers into “guinea pigs for this experiment called an SMR,” the Chronicle also reported.
In other nuclear news: Researchers from Purdue University, with funding from the Indiana Office of Energy Development, published a study late last year that concluded that SMRs present a viable opportunity for Indiana to transition to a cleaner, resilient, and diversified energy future.
The Study on SMR Technology and Its Impact for Indiana describes challenges, opportunities, workforce needs, safety considerations, and community engagement issues related to the deployment of SMRs in the state. It also points out that the amount of energy generated in Indiana has fallen by 26 percent over the past two decades.
The report includes three key recommendations for how Indiana should prepare for nuclear:
- Develop educational resources for differing audiences to build on publicly understood benefits of nuclear energy while educating on perceived safety and environmental concerns.
- Review existing state requirements, investigate incentives, and lead in technology standardization with a goal of derisking SMR construction within the state, especially at existing or retired coal plants.
- Take advantage of existing supply chain resources within the state to ensure Indiana’s economy benefits from SMR construction anywhere in the nation.
This story is the second in an ongoing series spotlighting various state legislative efforts to expand nuclear. Click here to read what Iowa is doing to support nuclear.
