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Taxpayers at Risk – Expansion of Nuclear Loan Guarantees Could Cost Billions

Taxpayers at Risk – Expansion of Nuclear Loan Guarantees Could Cost Billions WASHINGTON,
Aug. 5 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — Several new analyses confirm that, after over half a century of operation, nuclear power remains one of the most capital intensive, high-risk energy industries…………..

Taxpayers for Common Sense (TCS) opposes the expansion of loan guarantees for new reactors:

• Earlier this summer, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee adopted S. 949, the 21st Century Energy and Technology Deployment Act, as part of a suite of bills that has now been combined into a larger energy bill, the American Clean Energy Leadership Act of 2009 (ACELA). The main goals of the Clean Energy Technology Deployment provisions, now Title I of ACELA, are to make changes to the existing DOE loan guarantee program and create an independent entity within DOE, known as the Clean Energy Deployment Administration (CEDA), to distribute credit support to the energy industry.
• The Department of Energy’s Loan Guarantee Program already has $18.5 billion authorized for Treasury-backed loan guarantees for new nuclear reactors. The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates a 50 percent default rate on these loan guarantees. However, this could be just the beginning of billions more in risk as the nuclear industry has already submitted more than $120 billion in loan guarantee requests.

While TCS takes no position on whether or not nuclear power should be part of the nation’s energy future, we strongly believe it should not continue to be subsidized by taxpayers.

Editorial Board/Op-Ed Briefer: Taxpayers at Risk – Expansion of Nuclear Loan Guarantees Could Cost Billions

August 6, 2009 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | 1