The incoming leader of nuclear power’s lobbying group wants to promote industry as an environmentally friendly power option among policymakers and the public.

Maria Korsnick will take the helm at the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) Jan. 1. As a three-decade veteran of the business, she feels that the lack of greenhouse gas emissions from nuclear power needs to be given more prominence as the country grapples with how to fight climate change.

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“Fundamentally, when you look at the markets, there’s things that nuclear brings to the market that simply aren’t valued,” Korsnick told reporters Friday, just over a week after NEI’s board tapped her to be the next president.

“So the fact that nuclear is very kind to the environment, we might love that,” she said. “It’s not something that the market recognizes sufficiently.”

That’s in contrast with the traditional view of environmentally friendly energy pushed by green advocates.

To them, the chance of nuclear meltdowns or other disasters, combined with the nuclear waste that plants produce, precludes giving nuclear the environmentally friendly label that wind, solar and other renewables enjoy.

Competition from cheap natural gas and renewables has put significant strain and duress on the nuclear industry in recent years, causing numerous plants to close or plan closures.

With relatively fixed costs for labor, fuel, security and other needs, it’s hard for the industry to compete. Instead, companies are trying to spur the federal and state governments to allow them to charge more, in exchange for a power source that does not pollute and is very reliable.

The NEI and Korsnick want the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to act quickly on numerous pricing change proposals that they say would help out.

But since states regulate much of the energy pictures within their borders, nuclear is also pushing for policies there.

New York’s new clean energy standard represents a major state-level victory with its subsidies for nuclear power plants. And Illinois is considering legislation to put nuclear power on par with renewables.

Korsnick is also planning more public outreach to convince Americans that nuclear power is green.

“We’ve been very focused on policymakers,” she said of the NEI. “I would like to broaden that, and I would like to have the grassroots appeal as well, and to get our message out even more broadly than to policymakers, and to the ultimate voter, or the ultimate decision-maker, and have the folks appreciate the value that nuclear brings.”

One impediment to public outreach is that Korsnick is not confident that the source of a consumer’s electricity is at the top of his or her mind.

“People sort of expect electricity to come out of the plug whenever they plug their stuff in, sort of like they expect there to be air to breathe when they walk around,” she said. “It’s different if I were marketing, say, a car, or something that you might buy or might not buy.”

But Korsnick said it’s nonetheless important to focus on the industry’s image in that way.

“Environment is obviously a big deal,” she said. “I’m a mother of two kids, and I want my kids to grow up in a world that’s safe, secure and has clean, fresh air.”