US Energy Secretary: To Push For More Nuclear Loan Guarantees

Dow Jones & Company, Inc. - Sep 24

U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu said Thursday he will push for billions of dollars in new loan guarantee authority to help rejuvenate a domestic industry and cut greenhouse gas emissions.

Although companies have submitted 18 new nuclear power plant license applications to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the Department of Energy only has authority for $18.5 billion, enough for four to five plants.

"If you really want to restart the American nuclear energy industry in a serious way...we (need to) send signals to the industry that the U.S. is serious about investing in nuclear power plants," Chu said in an interview on the sidelines of a conference here.

Pressing for new nuclear power plants may help the administration win over the handful of Republican senators needed to help pass a landmark climate bill into law. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., for example, supports a cap on emissions in principle, but said government support for nuclear power is essential for him to consider backing a bill that would cut greenhouse gases.

Although it's nowhere near the 100 new nuclear power plants that the GOP has called for, Chu said "there's real interest out there (for) another four to five or more, we could easily do."

"It's part of how we're going to get to the carbon reductions we need in order to avoid the worst of climate change," Chu said.

The Energy Secretary said the loan guarantees would help revitalize a U.S.- based nuclear industry, given that most of the major companies that build reactors are now owned by international companies.

"It's also an American leadership issue," the Secretary said. "We were the pioneers in the nuclear industry...We are no longer the world leaders," he said.

Chu also said a new blue ribbon panel that will determine the nation's future nuclear waste energy policy would be appointed "soon." Although there were still "complications," he was pressing for the panel to convene as quickly as possible.

The delay in determining the waste issue after the administration decided to cancels plans for a central storage site in Nevada is one of many stumbling blocks that has dogged the industry.

-By Ian Talley, Dow Jones Newswires; (202) 862 9285; [email protected];

NOTE: Just in case you missed this story regarding the blue ribbon panel, check out U.S. Panel Shifts Focus to Reusing Nuclear Fuel:http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/24/business/energy-environment/24yucca.html?_r=1