Special Open Meeting/Commission Workshop - AZCC 6-25-26 Advancing Nuclear Generation in AZ Workshop No. 2B Notice & Agenda - Jun 25, 2026

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Arizona Corporation Commission 7h 52m 7 agenda items transcribed 1 day ago official recording ↗

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Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.

What is the opening overview of the workshop and its goals?

Jeff Myers 0:02

Uh, what we heard from the utilities and industry experts and and government officials um was a resounding yes. In February, our second workshop tackled the financial realities of of new nuclear development, and we learned that um federal lending authority and uh um investment tax credits have made the economics of new nuclear more favorable than um at any point in in recent history. Um we also heard something that um that was equal equally important that uh broad bipartisan um agreement that nu nuclear uh belongs in Arizona. So um Today we turn uh to the the practical work, which is uh workforce development, supply chain readiness, community outreach. The those are the building blocks that are necessary for uh future nuclear projects to become reality.

Jeff Myers 0:56

And um the the timing couldn't be more meaningful. Just this week, APS, SRP and TEP announced that they're that a uh preliminary sighting study is now underway. Um That's a foundational step towards identifying where new nuclear generation would be built in our state. Um so we have real momentum. We hope that this third workshop um will build on and and further accelerate this momentum. To um the Commission staff and and uh the governor's office of resiliency and um our federal delegation and every presenter and stakeholder um who's given their time uh to this series of workshops, we are truly grateful. Um today's participants, your expertise and uh is exactly um what this process needs. So thank you for being here and uh I look forward to all your

Jeff Myers 1:48

Your presentations and um with that we can go to uh other commissioner opening comments. So Commissioner Marquez Peterson.

Lena Fowler Peterson 1:57

Thank you, Chairman. And I think you said it exactly right and kind of set the stage. I really appreciate your leadership and Commissioner Lopez's leadership in putting this workshop together. Um Couple years I've served as co chair of the advanced nuclear. framework for Neyruk and the Sale. And so there's a lot of interest across the country in how we can get this done, how this can be implemented, how it can become more affordable for our ratepayers. And I think this is a a logical next step. So I really appreciate everyone who's put the content together for today's meeting. And I look forward to to learning more. Thank you.

Jeff Myers 2:31

Thank you, Commissioner Mark or Commissioner Walden. I think you're muted.

Tom Walden 2:41

There we go. That's better. Thank you. Uh I look forward to everybody's presentations today and thank you for the work that you've put into it. And uh yeah, it seems like the fut the future's nuclear are all very, very interested in in that and having that uh reliable carbon free baseload added in the future. So I look forward to what we're going to hear about today.

Jeff Myers 3:03

Great, thank you. And and just for everybody's reference, Commissioner Thompson will not be on today, so we're we're gonna give him a pass. So Commissioner Lopez, it is all on you now.

Gary Lopez 3:13

I it's all right. Uh we're Commissioner Thompson. I've already uh put it down on a chit and I'll I'll be uh harassing him later. Sounds like a good plan. Our workshop. Um so uh again, Chairman Myers, thank you also for the leadership and and indulging me in uh in this. Um a lot of you that have I've I've been out there for the last few years and before even I was on the commission, I mentioned this a lot that uh nuclear power is my first love language. Um and I am extremely Extremely excited that I found uh a lot of compatriots out there that have uh have the same love now that I do. Um we've been able to come out of the shadows and uh uh I grew up for 30 years uh a pariah in a lot of the industry out there as many of us had to uh but uh we're finally busting out.

Gary Lopez 3:56

Um and I say this a lot is that again this workshop is as mentioned it's an educational workshop it's to talk about Um, a lot of the options, opportunities, the risks, and how do we mitigate that? How do we have this open discussion? We're changing the narrative of nuclear power on how it used to be very High level, being fairly secretive. And again, I think probably in the sixties and seventies it was out of almost necessity.