NPP Newsletter: What’s at Stake with Premature Closing of Nuclear Plants? Jobs & Clean Air!

Hello all –

By now you’ve probably heard the troubling news that the Beaver Valley Power Station in Shippingport will prematurely close within the next three years. Beaver Valley joins Three Mile Island as two of Pennsylvania’s five nuclear plants now scheduled to close well before they need to.

Here are some facts to consider in light of this latest announcement:

• The Beaver Valley Power Station directly employs more than 800 Pennsylvanians in a region of the Commonwealth that can ill afford to lose these family sustaining jobs. This figure does not include the employment of more than 1,000 additional workers from the building and construction trades during refueling outages.
• The retirement of the three FirstEnergy nuclear plants (two in Ohio; one in PA) will result in the loss of more zero-emission energy than is produced by all existing wind and solar in all 13 PJM states. David Roberts at Vox explains why we need more carbon-free power, not less.

These numbers illustrate the story we have been telling.  When nuclear plants prematurely retire, communities are devastated by job loss and our clean energy future is compromised. We think this outcome is avoidable as long as policymakers at the state and federal level are committed to solving the problem by fairly valuing the many benefits and attributes of nuclear energy. Dauphin County Commissioner Mike Pries, who co-chairs the Clean Jobs for Pennsylvania coalition in Central PA, clearly articulates what so many of us are hoping for – the continued operation of our nuclear fleet across the state.

Please share these articles on your social media accounts and invite like-minded people to join our ranks by visiting our website, www.nuclearpowerspennsylvania.com.

Thank you for your support of nuclear power in Pennsylvania! We will continue to be in touch in the weeks and months ahead.

-Nuclear Powers Pennsylvania