Illinois and New York approved as much as $10 billion in subsidies to keep their nuclear reactors open for the next decade, limiting emissions that would have come from new fossil fuel consumption since natural gas plants would likely replace them.1 Nuclear units are finding it hard to compete against low-cost natural gas. Five nuclear plants have retired over the past 5 years2 and several more have been announced. Even Diablo Canyon in California--a nuclear plant that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission ranks as one of the best in performance--is being shuttered after this decade supposedly to be replaced by renewable energy and efficiency programs. However, in reality, it is likely that they will be replaced, at least in part, by natural gas units as has been the case for other nuclear unit retirements.
Other states that may follow in Illinois and New York's footsteps are Ohio, Connecticut, and New Jersey where nuclear units are providing most of the state's carbon dioxide-free electricity. In Connecticut, the Millstone nuclear plant produces 98 percent of the state's low-carbon power, and in New Jersey, nuclear reactors produce 97 percent.
