Photo Courtesy/WV Legislative Photography YOUNG — Delegate Kayla Young expressed her support Monday for eliminating the ban on nuclear power plant construction in the state.

CHARLESTON — A bill doing away with the prohibition on nuclear power plant construction in West Virginia finished legislative action Monday and headed to the desk of Gov. Jim Justice.

The House of Delegates passed Senate Bill 4 on Monday morning 76-16, repealing sections of the state code banning the construction of nuclear power plants in West Virginia, nearly one week after the Senate approved the bill.

The bill has received wide bipartisan support, bringing together both Republican and Democratic lawmakers who wish to make West Virginia more attractive to manufacturers seeking to lower their carbon footprint and go green.

“I’m glad we are discussing nuclear. This is a big issue,” said Delegate Evan Hansen, D-Monongalia. “These are the kinds of discussions that are important for us as we diversify our economy and bring jobs to West Virginia even as we address climate change.”

“We have to be careful with nuclear power, however, that track record is good and we need to be in that game,” said Delegate Mark Zatezalo, R-Hancock. “It is prudent to be an all-in state. It is prudent to have various means of generating power at your disposal. I think it is time to consider this.”

Lawmakers first started considering repealing the ban after conversations with North Carolina-based steel manufacturer Nucor, which plans to build a steel mill in Mason County. Nucor uses electric arc furnaces instead of carbon dioxide-producing coal-fired furnaces. Nucor announced last year its intentions are to further cut its greenhouse gas emissions and seek cleaner sources of power.

Most of the opposition and concern from lawmakers, particularly delegates representing parts of the southern coal fields, centered around the radioactive waste produced by nuclear power plants. Opponents also raised the specter of potential nuclear meltdowns at future in-state nuclear power plants.

“I’m the furthest thing in this room from an environmentalist, but I just want to say that nuclear is never a problem until it is, then it’s a big problem,” said Delegate Tony Paynter, R-Wyoming. “I don’t want to go down that road.”

“I’m not for this,” said Delegate Ed Evans, D-McDowell. “That waste does not go away tomorrow. It does not go away next week, next year, next decade. It’s around for hundreds of years.”

Three major commercial nuclear plant failures have occurred: Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania in 1979, Chernobyl in the former Soviet Union in 1986, and the 2011 earthquake that damaged the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in Japan. Otherwise, nuclear power plants and reactors used in military naval vessels have a positive safety record.

Radioactive waste at commercial nuclear plants is stored on site in wet pools for five years and dry casks, according to the Congressional Research Service. The Nuclear Energy Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based trade organization, states these storage methods take up little space and are safe.

“I don’t think this is something we’re going to see in the next decade. It’s going to take a while to develop it, but I think it’s exciting,” said Delegate Kayla Young, D-Kanawha. “Nuclear waste is the only waste that is physically contained. Other waste goes into the air, it goes into the water, it goes into the soil.”

SB 4 removes two sections of code banning the construction of new nuclear power plants except under certain circumstances. The ban has been in place since 1996.

Both the Public Service Commission and the state Department of Environmental Protection have rules and regulations in place dealing with the construction of new power plants and the handling of radioactive waste. New nuclear power plants also come under the authority of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

(Adams can be contacted at sadams@newsandsentinel.com)