CGNP Supports Colorado HB 1040 During Hearing
- with strong support, the unamended bill advances to the Senate Committee as a Whole
Here's the alert I saw late last night from a nuclear power advocate who supports nuclear power in Colorado, Green Leap Forward
....Tomorrow afternoon is the Senate Committee hearing for a Colorado bill to add nuclear energy to the state’s definition of “clean energy” starting at 1:30 pm Mountain Time.
It previously passed the House Committee and full House floor hearing. The past two bills with nearly identical language were killed early on, in large part due to the overwhelming testimonies against nuclear energy from the usual anti-nuclear groups. The bill has great bi-partisan support.
If anyone wants to testify, sign up link is below. They allow for remote (Zoom) testimony and written testimony.....
My Zoom testimony was delivered within the two-minute time limit. I was the last witness at about four hours into the hearing.
…. My name is Dr. Gene Nelson. I'm the volunteer president and senior legal researcher for the independent nonprofit Californians for Green Nuclear Power (CGNP.) CGNP strongly supports the passage of Bill 1040 which include nuclear as a source of clean energy - namely producing electricity without producing carbon dioxide which is produced when coal, petroleum liquids or natural gas is combusted to produce heat to generate electricity. CGNP spearheaded the passage of California SB 846 in 2022 to assure grid stability. We helped extend the lifetime of Diablo Canyon at least until 2030.
Nuclear power has additional important characteristics as a consequence of the strong nuclear safety culture. It is the safest form of electricity generation when measured by deaths per kilowatt hour - on a par with solar and wind because it doesn't have the air pollution burdens of fossil energy such as coal which releases both toxic air pollution and toxic water pollution such as arsenic leaching out of coal ash heaps into groundwater.
Nuclear power is abundant, accounting for half of the nation's clean energy. The nuclear Navy is powered by SMRs. Nuclear power is reliable with a full power percentage on-time in excess of 90%, which is important for such important loads requiring 24/7 reliable power such as data centers, many manufacturing facilities, hospitals, and public safety. Nuclear power is cost-effective. The U.S. EIA shows the cost of nuclear fuel is about 1/4 the cost of fossil energy on a BTU basis. There's another benefit of nuclear power, namely the large quantity of synchronous grid inertia (SGI) that big nuclear power plants generate. SGI provides the grid with frequency stability in the face of inevitable grid destabilization. On the other hand, solar, wind, and batteries fail to supply significant quantities of necessary SGI. Please pass bill 1040 to provide Colorado a clean pathway to the future…..
The Colorado HB 1040 sponsors Senator Dylan Roberts and Senator Larry Liston are shown at the right during the hearing in the Old State Library.
Two bill opponents attempted to amend the bill at the last minute with restrictive amendments. Both restrictive amendments were defeated. Then, the roll was called on the bill. The bill passed 6-3, so the unamended bill advances to the Senate Committee as a Whole for a vote on passage. Finally, Colorado Governor Jared Polis must sign the bill.
Here's a HB 1040 update that was published on 20 March 2025..... Bill to promote nuclear energy headed to Polis with bipartisan support by Ed Sealover, The Sum and Substance. https://tsscolorado.com/bill-to-promote-nuclear-energy-headed-to-polis-with-bipartisan-support/
Here's a report from nuclear supporter David Thielen "Colorado has Become a Pro-Nuclear State
Passing HB25-1040 is more than the actual legislative change of the bill" David's Substack is "Liberal and Loving it." David testified in-person before I testified via Zoom. I liked that he advocated for installing AP 1000s in Colorado. I also agree it would be very harmful to shut down the large Comanche coal-fired plant before a clean firm replacement is up and running.
Several nuclear opponents falsely claimed that solar is clean and firm. I believe the Colorado Senators attending the hearing saw through those misleading claims.