Obama’s Enthusiasm to Nuclear Energy is Encouraging, But…
Nicolas Loris /
President Obama reaffirmed his willingness to expand the commercial nuclear energy in the United States when he said in his State of the Union address that we should be “building a new generation of safe, clean nuclear power plants in this country.” He backed it up by including an additional $36 billion in loan guarantees to nuclear energy projects. On top of the $18.5 billion allotted under the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPACT 2005), the total amount in loan guarantees now stands at $54.5 billion. Is this good or bad for the future of nuclear energy; more importantly, is it good for electricity consumers?
It depends.
The initial $18.5 billion in loan guarantees were to mitigate the massive government-imposed regulatory risk that inflate. It was meant to bring stability for the first handful of reactors built in the United States. Congress and the nuclear industry believed these provisions would provide predictability after years of erratic regulatory hurdles through targeted and limited temporary assistance.