WASHINGTON – The Obama administration is hoping to triple the amount of money it's allowed to use to guarantee loans for nuclear power plants, seeking an additional $36 billion for the guarantees in its fiscal 2012 budget proposal.
Created by a 2005 law, the loan guarantees promote the construction of nuclear power facilities by allowing the federal government to serve as a backstop for loan defaults.
The nuclear power industry says the costs of new plants, coupled with political and regulatory risks, make it too difficult to access the credit markets without the guarantees.
The Energy Department is currently allowed to spend $18.5 billion on the guarantees. The Obama administration proposed raising that level by $36 billion in its last budget proposal as well, but Congress didn't approve the increase.
In February 2010, the Energy Department offered conditional guarantees worth $ 8.3 billion for two nuclear reactors in Georgia, representing the first and only commitments made by the Energy Department under that program.
The Obama administration has been working to promote nuclear energy in recent months, seeing it as a way to cut down on greenhouse gas pollution and reduce the country's dependence on foreign oil.
President Barack Obama, in his State of the Union address, said the country should try to generate 80% of its electricity from nuclear power and other " clean" sources by 2035.
In the most recent budget, the administration also confirmed its support for a 17% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 when compared against 2005 levels.
Members of NuStart Energy consortium are:
DTE Energy, Detroit, MI, Duke Energy, Charlotte, NC, EDF International North America, Washington, D.C., Entergy Nuclear, Jackson, MS, Exelon Generation, Philadelphia, PA, Florida Power & Light Company, Juno Beach, FL, Progress Energy, Raleigh, NC, South Carolina Electric & Gas, Columbia, SC, Southern Company, Atlanta, GA, Tennessee Valley Authority, Knoxville, TN, GE-Hitachi Nuclear Energy, Wilmington, NC, Westinghouse Electric Co., Pittsburgh, PA