Obama Doubles Down on Nuclear Energy

After President Obama's major endorsement of nuclear energy at his State of the Union last week, his administration has rolled out a set of energy projects that nuclear lobbyists can really get behind. This week, The Hill reported that the Senate climate and energy bill will include $38 billion federal loan guarantees on top of the $54 million in nuclear loans already promised by the Department of Energy.

To put this in perspective, the U.S. government currently underwrites $18.5 billion for new nuclear projects. And even at this level, the Congressional Budget Office predicted that the chances of default on these loans was "well above 50 percent."

As Kate Sheppard reports for Mother Jones this week, some Senate Democrats have embraced nuclear energy to woo the support of key Republicans for the fledgling cap-and-trade bill. And nuclear lobbyists have paid handsomly for the privilege of influencing climate legislation. In the first half of 2009, the Nuclear Energy Institute gave $99,000 to 63 separate candidates. As Ellen Vancko of the Union of Concerned Scientists told Sheppard, "It has been a very concerted campaign, a very well-funded campaign, and it's beginning to pay off."

Due to the NEI's influence and Obama's strong support for new reactors, the spread of nuclear energy is almost certain. But energy economists, climate scientists, and small-government conservatives agree that it's bad policy for the government to assume the risk of new reactors. Last week, the conservative groups National Taxpayers Union and the George Marshall Institute, the nonpartisan Taxpayers for Common Sense, and the Non-Proliferation Policy Education Center penned a letter to President Obama warning against expanding government funding of nuclear energy. "With hundreds of billions in bailouts already on the shoulders of U.S. taxpayers," they wrote, "the country cannot afford to move forward with a program that could easily become the black hole for hundreds of billions more."

Proponents of nuclear energy say that it is a cheap, efficient renewable energy option that will help reduce our dependce on foreign oil quickly. But critics point out that it has already proven to expose taxpayer funds, and is much dirtier than renewable energy sources like wind and solar. And even with Obama's blue ribbon commission on nuclear waste announced last week, those concerns are not likely to fade.

But whether you like it or not, nuclear energy promises to be a large part of our renewable future.

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