03/01/2022 10:15 AM House ENERGY

                      HB 299-MICROREACTORS                                                                                  
                                                                                                                                
10:20:29 AM                                                                                                                   
                                                                                                                                
CHAIR SCHRAGE  announced that the  first order of  business would                                                               
be HOUSE BILL NO. 299, "An Act relating to microreactors."                                                                      
                                                                                                                                
10:21:12 AM                                                                                                                   
                                                                                                                                
The committee took a brief at-ease at 10:21 a.m.                                                                                
                                                                                                                                
10:21:36 AM                                                                                                                   
                                                                                                                                
REPRESENTATIVE ZULKOSKY moved  to report HB 299  out of committee                                                               
with  individual  recommendations  and  the  accompanying  fiscal                                                               
notes.                                                                                                                          
                                                                                                                                
10:21:56 AM                                                                                                                   
                                                                                                                                
REPRESENTATIVE TUCK objected  for the purpose of  discussion.  He                                                               
referenced  that in  2010 the  first House  Special Committee  on                                                               
Energy put together an initial energy  policy for the state.  The                                                               
policy   addressed   cost-effective   ways  to   deliver   energy                                                               
throughout rural Alaska.   He shared a personal  antidote about a                                                               
suggestion to  "park a  submarine outside"  of Dillingham  in the                                                               
summer as an energy source for  making ice for the fisheries.  He                                                               
continued  that then  there had  been  an effort  to get  nuclear                                                               
[energy]  added to  the policy,  but the  microreactor technology                                                               
had just been developed.  He  surmised that it is hard to compete                                                               
with  the  concentration  of  energy   that  comes  from  nuclear                                                               
supplies, and it competes very well  with wind or solar.  He said                                                               
that an average person throughout  his/her lifetime would produce                                                               
a  "pea-sized  amount  of  waste"   using  nuclear  energy.    He                                                               
qualified that  the waste would  be concentrated.   Comparing the                                                               
Three Mile Island nuclear accident  to the accidents at Chernobyl                                                               
and Fukushima,  he argued  that the results  show the  systems in                                                               
the  U.S.  are  safer.    He  continued  that  unfortunately  the                                                               
accidents at  Chernobyl and  Fukushima have  "put a  blackeye" on                                                               
nuclear  technologies.   In order  to  meet the  energy needs  of                                                               
communities in Alaska  that are remote and off the  main grid, he                                                               
offered his support of HB 299.                                                                                                  
                                                                                                                                
REPRESENTATIVE  TUCK  removed  his  objection.   There  being  no                                                               
further objection, HB  299 was reported out of  the House Special                                                               
Committee on Energy.