Costs and permitting are barriers to nuclear-powered electricity in Idaho, utilities say 

High costs and lengthy permitting processes are two of the barriers to bringing nuclear-powered electricity to customers in Idaho, officials from three electrical utilities told state regulators during a public forum outside of Boise on Tuesday.

Officials from Idaho Power, Rocky Mountain Power and Avista told members of the Idaho Public Utilities Commission that nuclear energy can provide a reliable and clean source of energy that diversifies energy portfolios. 

However, the high cost to build nuclear power projects, the absence of price certainty and permitting processes that can stretch for 10 years or longer do not align with state regulators’ “least cost, least risk” mandate.

“When I think of the benefits of nuclear, I think diversity is a huge part of it,” Idaho Power Chief Operating Officer Adam Richins said. “Obviously, it’s dispatchable clean energy, which really doesn’t exist besides nuclear.”

“On the other side of the spectrum … right now we don’t know how much it’s going to cost, and obviously when you talk about ‘least cost, least risk,’ that is very important,” Richins said. 

For example, Richins said the expansion of Plant Vogtle nuclear power plant in Georgia ran over budget by $16 billion to $21 billion. 

The Idaho Public Utilities Commission sets rates and regulates investor-owned and privately-owned utilities that provide electricity, gas, water or some telephone services for a profit.

The three members of the Idaho Public Utilities Commission, or PUC for short, are appointed by the governor.

None of the three companies use nuclear in their energy mix. 

But Rocky Mountain Power officials recently announced a 40-year power purchase agreement to buy electricity from a TerraPower nuclear power plant that is being built in Kemmerer, Wyoming. The Wyoming plant is being built at the site of a coal plant that is being retired, with about $2 billion in federal funding from the U.S. Department of Energy supporting the project.

The Idaho Public Utilities Commission did not have any specific nuclear energy proposals under consideration during Tuesday’s forum and did not take any action. 

“The primary purpose of this opportunity for us is to listen to each and every one (of the utilities participating in the forum),” Idaho PUC Chairman Edward Lodge said.