Hi, I'm Denise, and this is your civic minute.
15% of Wisconsin's electricity comes from one place.
The point reached nuclear plant near two rivers.
It runs day and night, produces zero carbon,
and because it was paid off decades ago,
it's some of the cheapest power on the grid.
Wisconsin used to have a second nuclear plant in Kiwani.
It shut down in 2013, not because it was unsafe,
but because cheap natural gas undercut it.
The local economy lost over 600 jobs
and never fully recovered.
Now there's a plan to build a new reactor on the same site,
but building new nuclear is expensive,
and it wouldn't come online until the late 2030s.
Kiwani closed because of a short-term bet on cheap gas
that turned out wrong.
Now gas prices are volatile.
Data centers went low carbon power
and demand for reliable electricity has never been higher.
The lesson isn't about one technology.
It's about what happens when short-term economics
drive long-term energy decisions.
That's your civic minute.
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