Nuclear Energy

The most important of these defeats has been on the question of quantum of loan guarantees. As
discussed in Chapter 4, without loan guarantees, industry is not even going to think of constructing
a new nuclear reactor. The nuclear industry had lobbied hard during the Bush Presidency to get the
Congress to give loan guarantees for $50 billion. But campaigning by public interest and anti-
nuclear groups got that amount knocked down to $18.5 billion. cccii This amount is barely enough to
cover loan guarantees for 3 reactors, whereas utilities have asked the DOE for $122 billion in loan
guarantees for the 26 new reactors they propose to construct! ccciii Obviously, only if Congress
overrides strong public opposition and sanctions a huge increase in loan guarantees will the nuclear
renaissance ever take off!
Many states in the United States have laws which either explicitly or effectively ban the
construction of new nuclear plants. The nuclear industry has done intense lobbying to get these
states to lift their ban, but has so far completely failed. Thus, for instance, Minnesota has a
moratorium in place on construction of new nuclear power plants; while California, West Virginia,
Wisconsin and some more states have laws according to which no new nuclear plant can be
constructed in the state until there is a national facility which safely disposes of high level nuclear
waste. In 2009, the nuclear industry failed in its efforts in all the six states where it tried to get
these laws repealed. Similarly, the nuclear industry also failed to get the Missouri legislature to pass
a CWIP law that would have enabled costs to be imposed on the state’s ratepayers to finance
construction of a new nuclear plant, which was then promptly mothballed. Industry efforts to get
nuclear declared "renewable" by the states of Indiana and Arizona also failed to achieve results. ccciv
Growing public opposition to the expansion plans of the nuclear industry is also putting at risk
one of the important recent successes of the nuclear utilities – lifetime extensions of their operating
plants. In Vermont, because of a huge grassroots campaign, a whopping 26 members of the 30-
member state Senate voted in February 2010 against giving a life extension to the Vermont Yankee
Nuclear Plant for another 20 years after its scheduled closing in 2012. Of course, the fight isn’t
over, Entergy is a powerful corporation and has said it has not thrown in the towel. The House still
has to vote and it is to be seen whether it will vote the same way and retire Vermont Yankee. The
Vermont Senate vote was the first time a state legislative body has voted to retire a nuclear plant. cccv
Apart from these setbacks at the policy level, even the specific plans made by the nuclear
industry for construction of new reactors have suffered serious setbacks. President Bush’s National
Energy Policy had set a target of constructing two reactors by 2010. However, construction on even
the first of these reactors has yet to begin even as 2010 draws to a close.
• Of the 26 reactors for which applications had been received by the NRC till the end of 2009,
19 have been cancelled or delayed and every project has suffered a downgrade by credit
rating agencies. cccvi
• The nuclear plant construction applications received by the NRC cover 5 designs. However,
so far, only one of these designs – the ABWR – has been certified by the NRC. Its
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