The Department of Energy on Friday released a roughly four-year contract that will fund the agency’s evaluation of financially struggling nuclear reactors that could qualify for billions of dollars in bailouts Congress made available last year.
The contract, administered by the DOE Idaho operations office, will begin on May 6, 2023 and run through Dec. 31, 2027, according to a solicitation published on Friday. The solicitation closes May 7.
In 2022’s Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, Congress provided about $6 billion in bailouts, to be spread over five years and managed by DOE, to keep financially struggling nuclear reactors from shutting down.
Diablo Canyon in Avila Beach, Calif., won the first round of bailouts. DOE published its guidelines for the the second round of financial aid in March.