Obama Doubles Down on Nuclear Energy
February 5th, 2010 admin
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After President Obama’s major endorsement of nuclear energy at his State of the Union last week, his administration has rolled out a set of energy projects that nuclear lobbyists can really get behind. This week, The Hill reported that the Senate climate and energy bill will include $38 billion federal loan guarantees on top of the $54 million in nuclear loans already promised by the Department of Energy. To put this in perspective, the U.S. government currently underwrites $18.5 billion for new nuclear projects. And even at this level, the Congressional Budget Office predicted that the chances of default on these loans was “well above 50 percent .” As Kate Sheppard reports for Mother Jones this week, some Senate Democrats have embraced nuclear energy to woo the support of key Republicans for the fledgling …
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