This assessment prepared by NERA Economic Consulting for the MidAmerican Energy Company using the REMI PI+ model to evaluate the Iowa macroeconomic impacts for the nuclear SMR and natural gas combined cycle deployment options. The deployment of nuclear and natural gas generation has fundamental differences in the allocation of costs over the project lifetime, including higher on-site employment at a nuclear site, lower fuel costs for a nuclear deployment that chance out-of-state fuel supply costs, and differential Iowa electricity rates over the period through 2080 for the nuclear SMR and natural gas combined cycle deployments. NERA utilized a three-region PI+ model that incorporated the state of Iowa, the rest of the Upper Midwest (Wisconsin, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota, Minnesota), and the rest of the United States. The analysis examined eight energy market scenarios in the state of Iowa in terms of gross state product, total employment, and disposable personal income, which were identified as the key results for this assessment. Researchers discovered that the expenditure inputs to the PI+ model generate positive economic impacts, however, a scenario with higher electricity and natural gas price inputs typically brought about negative economic impacts due to higher electricity and natural gas prices increasing production costs for businesses and lowering purchasing power for households.
