Governor promotes nuclear power in Texas

AUSTIN – The Dallas Morning News reports Gov. Greg Abbott signaled strong support for a reemerging nuclear power industry Monday, publishing a report that proposes creating a state-backed loan program to develop nuclear power plants. A report commissioned by Abbott’s office proposed a Texas Nuclear Power Fund. The task force report calls on the Texas Legislature to pass a slate of bills supporting nuclear power, including creating a university research network, providing government grants to build a technology supply chain and bolstering the nuclear power supply chain. “Texas is the energy capital of the world, and we are ready to be No. 1 in advanced nuclear power,” Abbott said in a news release. “By utilizing advanced nuclear energy, Texas will enhance the reliability of the state grid and provide affordable, dispatchable power to Texans across the state.”

Public Utility Commissioner Jimmy Glotfelty, an Abbott appointee to the state’s energy regulatory board and head of the governor’s Texas Advanced Nuclear Reactor Working Group, said the proposed Texas Nuclear Energy Fund would be similar to a $5 billion loan program lawmakers created in 2023 that offers taxpayer-backed, 3% interest loans to companies that build natural gas power plants. “We hope that the Legislature will agree that [the fund] mitigates risk,” Glotfelty said Monday at a nuclear power conference in Austin, adding that loans would fund roughly 60% of development costs and would be repaid over 20 to 25 years. “We’re helping reduce the front-end cost by putting state dollars to work.” The Public Utility Commission advanced several applications for proposed natural gas power plants for loans earlier this year, although the program has faced lawmaker scrutiny after one of the proposals was headed by a woman convicted of a federal crime. The commission has since removed that application from contention. The fund’s administrator, Deloitte, refunded $7.3 million of its contract over failing to question that proposal. The accounting firm is conducting a due diligence review of loan applications that is expected to take up to eight months, according to PUC spokeswoman Ellie Breed.