The Inflation Reduction Act buried one of the most durable income streams in U.S. energy policy inside Section 45U: a Production Tax Credit for existing nuclear reactors that pays operators up to $15 per megawatt-hour whenever wholesale power prices fall below a statutory threshold. The mechanism is a price floor disguised as a tax credit. When spot electricity prices are soft, the federal government makes up the gap — dollar for dollar, up to that cap. When prices are high, the credit phases out. The result is a government-backstopped revenue guarantee for whoever owns the reactors, funded by taxpayers and designed to last through 2032.
Washington didn't move money here. It printed a floor under it.