Finally, Movement Forward on Nuclear
We are very pleased by the Administration's announcement (see USA Today or Washington Post) that the Department of Energy (DOE) has finally issued its first conditional loan guarantee for two new state-of-the-art reactors at Southern Company's Vogtle Nuclear Site in Georgia. Nuclear power must be at the center of our energy future if we are to meet growing energy demands and reduce carbon emissions.
While the terms of this agreement have yet to be disclosed, this is a significant milestone that should be commended. Federal loan guarantees are the single most important policy tool available to facilitate the construction of the country's largest source of emissions free baseload electricity.
This announcement comes on the heels of DOE's budget request to Congress earlier this month which includes authorization for an additional $36 billion in nuclear loan guarantee authority. We are hopeful that Congress will provide this requested authority and DOE will continue to issue loan guarantees for additional reactors under existing authority.
As our president and CEO Tom Donohue noted in the State of American Business 2010, an expansion of nuclear power will create thousands of American jobs. In fact, if all 26 plants now pursuing licenses are built, they could support an estimated 240,000 direct and indirect jobs. Jobs at nuclear plants pay 36 percent more than average salaries in the local area, which is all the more reason to utilize loan guarantees to help get these projects moving forward.
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