A nuclear power bill introduced during the final weeks of the New Jersey Legislature has brought together business groups and local environmental activists in opposition.

According to the New Jersey Monitor, the Energy Reliability and Affordability Act proposed a financial framework to fund a new nuclear plant that would shift the financial risk from developers to citizens.

If the bill passes, citizens would be charged an additional $22 to $55 on every electricity bill, even though the plant's energy will not be available for a decade or more. 

This price hike would cover 5% of the projected construction costs, but it could cost individual citizens as much as $6,600 over the next decade and in perpetuity once in operation.

Democratic senators Bob Smith (D-Middlesex) and John Burzichelli (D-Gloucester) oppose it as it could leave their constituents unable to afford their bills. Additionally, their constituents have already experienced a price hike last summer and are expecting another in 2026.

The only person in favor of the bill, Board of Public Utilities President Christine Guhl-Sadovy, argued that U.S. Department of Energy loans may not be obtained without ratepayer financial support.

"Even conservative estimates for load growth make a strong case for building new nuclear generation," she said, per the New Jersey Monitor. "If the state does not invest in [a] new generation, electricity will continue on the path of being unaffordable." 

New Jersey isn't the only state looking toward a new energy future. In Tennessee, the state government has partnered with Orano to deliver a multibillion-dollar uranium enrichment facility.

The proposed facility in New Jersey will likely be a nuclear fission plant, which generates energy by splitting heavy atomic nuclei. However, nuclear fusion, which creates massive amounts of energy by combining two light atomic nuclei to form a single heavier one, is coming closer to reality, with scientists in Japan making a crucial breakthrough.

There are both benefits and risks to transitioning from oil, coal, and gas to nuclear power. Nuclear power produces almost no carbon dioxide or air pollution, and it is far more efficient and reliable than burning traditional fuels. 

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However, nuclear fission reactors produce radioactive waste, use large amounts of water for cooling, and can be targets for terrorism. Fusion technology, however, would reduce radioactive waste and would require far less water.

Unfortunately, with the bill written as is, ratepayers may be liable for up to 20% of forecasted costs and may be required to approve larger increases years into the project with Board of Public Utilities approval.

There is already a history of nuclear plant overruns in the U.S., as the Monitor detailed, specifically two nuclear units in Georgia in 2023. They saw their projected costs escalate from $14 billion to $31 billion and were six years behind schedule. 

However, Guhl-Sadovy hoped to use that example to prevent future overruns in New Jersey.

"A lot of mistakes, I think, were made and recognized, and changes have been made," she said, per the publication. "We would not anticipate those kinds of cost overruns."

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