Saturday
Jul112009
"Nuclear Loan Guarantees: Another Taxpayer Bailout Ahead?"
Read the full Union of Concerned Scientists' analysis.
Loan Guarantees
New reactor construction is so expensive and unpredictable that no U.S. utility is willing to take the risk without the backing of federal loan guarantees, potentially in the hundreds of billions of dollars. Beyond Nuclear and others fight to prevent the mature nuclear industry from seizing any such subsidies which are better spent on true climate solutions such as renewable energy and energy efficiency programs.
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Entries from July 1, 2009 - July 31, 2009
July 11, 2009Saturday
Jul112009
USEC admits new uranium enrichment plant needs loan guarantees
The uranium enrichment company says it hasn't secured financing for its planned enrichment plant in Ohio but expects to get federal loan guarantees from either the Bush or Obama administrations.
Saturday
Jul112009
Department of Energy gets a run on nuclear handouts but won't release the list
The U.S. Department of Energy has revealed it received applications for federal taxpayer-backed loan guarantees from 17 utilities in time for its September 29 deadline but the agency will not say who they are. Furthermore, the applications - for the construction of 21 new reactors at 14 U.S. sites - total up to at least $122 billion. "Only" $18.5 billion in federal loan guarantees was set aside late last year. DOE admits that 21 new reactors would actually cost $188 billion. An additional $4 billion was sought by companies presumably hoping to build new uranium enrichment plants. Half that amount was set aside in the total $20.5 billion federal loan guarantee package. The DOE's Loan Guarantee Program Office Director, David Frantz, told reporters that $18.5 billion would likely only accommodate two new reactors. The DOE's secretiveness over the identities of the applicants is puzzling given that many have publicly declared their applications and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's Web site lists all new applications.
