Small fee could be added to your energy bill to help Dominion develop small nuclear reactors

Louisa County, VA (WRIC) – In a major announcement , Dominion Energy has announced it’s moving forward with plans to potentially develop a new source of energy. They’re called small modular reactors (SMRs), which generate nuclear power.

“I want to reiterate this is not a commitment to build an SMR at North Anna, but an important first step in evaluating the technology and the North Anna site to support our customer’s future energy needs as outlined in our most recent long-range plan,” Dominion Energy CEO, Robert Blue explained Wednesday.

SMRs are considerably smaller than regular nuclear power plants in size and energy, but are cheaper and quicker to build.

“SMRs emit no carbon,” Governor Glenn Youngkin said. “They emit no other pollutants. Their energy generating potential is equal to 2,000 acres or more of a solar farm, and yet are no bigger than a parking lot.”

Dominion’s announcement came at an event where Youngkin ceremonially signed a bill allowing Dominion to ask the State Corporation Commission to charge customers a fee on their eclectic bill to go toward developing the technology.

“The new law contains cost caps limiting current SMR cost recovery to no more than $1.40 a month for the typical residential customer of Dominion Energy Virginia and I believe our request will be substantially below that limit,” Blue said.

Dominion said they think they could have an SMR up and running in the 2030s.

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