Government to Guarantee Loans for Nuclear Power Plants

The Energy Department is planning to award $18.5 billion in loan guarantees for the construction of new nuclear power plants to four utilities, government sources said today. The companies include UniStar Nuclear Energy, NRG Energy Inc., Scana Corp. and Southern Co.

Nuclear power advocates hope that the loan guarantees will help launch a new wave of nuclear power plants that use a new generation of technology; moreover, they note, nuclear plants do not emit greenhouse gases. But foes of nuclear power argue that the plants remain too expensive to build without federal assistance and that energy efficiency and renewable energy resources offer better alternatives. New plants could cost anywhere from $6 billion to $12 billion, industry executives say.

All four companies plan to add units at existing nuclear facilities, which should make regulatory approval and siting approval easier. Two of the firms are “merchant power” companies that sell electricity at unregulated prices; two are utilities that will be subject to regulation and will seek to recover costs from local ratepayers.

Scana and Southern plan to use designs by Westinghouse, whose nuclear unit is now part of Toshiba. NRG is also planning to use a similar design. UniStar, a joint venture of Constellation Energy and Electricite de France, will use a design by the French firm Areva that it hopes can become a standard for future plants. It plans to add that unit to the Calvert Cliffs, Md., site where Constellation has other nuclear units.

Washington Post