Davis-Besse gets $9M federal grant 

WASHINGTON — A few weeks after Ohio’s state government arranged for ratepayers to fund a $150 million per year bailout of First-Energy Solutions’ Perry and Davis-Besse nuclear power plants, the federal government on Tuesday announced it’s giving a $9 million federal research grant to create a pilot program that will allow the Davis-Besse plant to produce hydrogen.

U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D., Toledo), who announced the grant, said hydrogen production could present an energy alternative that would keep America’s aging nuclear power plants competitive for years.

According to Miss Kaptur, the United States produces over 10 million tons of hydrogen, nearly one-seventh of the global supply, primarily for oil refining and fertilizer production. Hydrogen infrastructure includes over 1,600 miles of hydrogen pipeline and a growing network of stations across the region.

After weeks of negotiations, lobbying, and ads, Ohio lawmakers on Tuesday gave final approval to legislation to subsidize nuclear and coal power plants and effectively gut the state’s green-energy mandates for utilities.

Miss Kaptur said project costs will be shared among federal agencies, industry-led teams, and public and private laboratories. The U.S. Department of Energy will invest $9,184,229 and other partners will invest $2,299,391, for a total $11,483,620. Under this proposal, FirstEnergy Solutions will develop a light water reactor (LWR) hybrid energy system for installation at Davis-Besse.

The project was competitively awarded, she said.

“This funding will play an important role in improving Davis-Besse’s capacity to produce useable energy in a way that is more economically sustainable, has more industrial uses, and makes Davis-Besse economically competitive for the long-term,” Miss Kaptur said in a statement.

“New energy production that meets the needs of a changing economy and advances science at the highest levels holds the potential to attract new jobs and retain hun- dreds of highly skilled jobs at Ottawa County’s largest employer for years to come.”

Opponents of the nuclear plant bailout legislation are collecting signatures for a referendum that would overturn it. FirstEnergy Solutions is asking the Ohio Supreme Court to block the referendum petition drive.

Ohio nuclear bailout defenders deployed ground troops to thwart the repeal effort’s signature collection.

They’ve already hit Ohio’s airwaves and mailboxes. Now, the political defenders of the new Ohio law propping up two Ohio nuclear plants are hitting the streets.