New boost for nuclear

President Obama has requested a tripling of the amount of federal loan guarantees available to spur the construction of new nuclear generating plants. The White House included $54 billion in loan guarantees in its fiscal year 2011 budget request, compared with the $18.5 billion that is currently available. The administration announced on 16 February the first loan guarantees, to Southern Co, which plans to add two reactors to a plant in Georgia.

In a separate action, Secretary of Energy Steven Chu announced the formation of an independent commission to come up with a solution to the nation’s nuclear waste disposal problem. He told reporters on 29 January that nuclear energy “must play a role” in meeting the need for carbon-free base-load electricity generation. The 15-member commission is to be cochaired by Lee Hamilton, former indiana Democratic representative, and Brent Scowcroft, former national security adviser to presidents George H. W. Bush and Gerald Ford. The bipartisan commission includes former Nuclear Regulatory Commission chairman Richard Meserve, MIT physicist Ernest Moniz, retired senators Pete Domenici (R-NM) and Chuck Hagel (R-NE), utility industry executives, and environmentalists.