Obama wants another $9bn in nuclear loans
ERICA WERNER, WASHINGTON
429 words
22 May 2010
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US President Barack Obama is ready to ask Congress to agree to $US9 billion more in loan guarantees for the nuclear energy industry, a Democratic aide said yesterday, in a renewed push for nuclear power as the growing oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico highlights the risks of fossil fuel production.
Also yesterday, the Energy Department announced a $US2 billion loan guarantee for French-owned nuclear services company Areva, to help support its uranium enrichment plant in eastern Idaho.
At the insistence of Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the request for more spending on nuclear energy would be coupled with $US9 billion in loan guarantees for renewable energy such as wind and solar, according to the Democratic aide, who spoke on condition of anonymity before a formal announcement from the White House.
The request would be tacked on to a multibillion-dollar spending Bill for Afghanistan, Haiti and other programs that Congress is expected to finish next month.
Taxpayers would have to pay about $US180 million to support the loan guarantees, essentially putting up insurance for nuclear companies that would have trouble in borrowing money to build new plants without the federal backing.
The new spending follows $US18.5 billion in nuclear loan guarantees the Obama Administration announced in February, to spur building of the first nuclear power plant in the US in almost three decades, part of a broad shift to lessen dependence on foreign oil and reduce the use of other fossil fuels blamed for global warming.
Mr Obama called for ``a new generation of safe, clean nuclear power plants'' in his State of the Union speech earlier this year.
Some $US8.3 billion of the money announced in February was for helping Southern Co. build new reactors in Burke, Georgia.
Energy Department officials have said the remaining loan guarantee authority was only enough for one project, and there had been several other finalists before Southern Co. was eventually selected.
Mitch Singer, a spokesman for the Nuclear Energy Institute, said the additional loan guarantee funding should give the Energy Department ``most, if not all, the resources needed to grant conditional loan guarantees to the other finalists.''
Those companies were Constellation Energy Group, NRG Energy and SCANA Corporation.
Along with the loan guarantees for nuclear and alternative energy projects, the Administration also will use the forthcoming spending Bill to restore $US2 billion to a $US6 billion alternative energy program initiated by last year's economic stimulus Bill, the Democratic aide said.