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US nuclear industry tries to hijack Obama’s climate change bill

US nuclear industry tries to hijack Obama’s climate change bill The Guardian Suzanne goldenberg 11 June 09 Republicans seek federal financing for 100 new reactors despite huge capital costs and unsolved problems of storing waste America’s nuclear industry and its supporters in Congress have moved to hijack Barack Obama’s agenda for greening the economy by producing a rival plan to build 100 new reactors in 20 years, and staking a claim for the money to come from a proposed clean energy development bank……………….The 152-page Republican bill contains just one reference to climate change, and proposes easing controls for new nuclear plants.

In the Senate, Republican leaders, including the former presidential candidate John McCain, also called this week for loan guarantees for building new reactors to rise from $18.5bn (£11.2bn) to $38bn. Other Republicans have called on the administration to underwrite the $122bn start-up costs of 19 nuclear reactors, whose applications are now under review by the department of energy. …………………..

Ellen Vancko, of the Union of Concerned Scientists, said: “The nuclear industry would like to be able to finance the next generation of nuclear reactors using the faith and credit of the US taxpayer to underwrite the expansion. They don’t want to be responsible for any risk of financing these plants and neither do their lenders.”

No new reactors have been ordered in 30 years, not least due to the challenges of raising $5bn-$12bn to build a new plant………………………If Republican efforts in Congress for a nuclear energy bill and a clean energy bank fail, the US nuclear renaissance is likely to be restricted to new reactors already being built. Jim Riccio, Greenpeace nuclear analyst, said: “The renaissance is on hold or maybe dead on arrival.”

US nuclear industry tries to hijack Obama’s climate change bill | Environment | guardian.co.uk

June 12, 2009 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Uncategorized