Larry Coben: Nuclear Renaissance? Not in the U.S.A.

By Larry Coben, Huffington Post

There is no nuclear renaissance in the United States-at most a faint glimmer of hope for the end of a long nuclear dark age. President Obama, in his recent energy policy speech at MIT, cited nuclear power as an important part of America's energy future from both a security and carbon emission reduction perspective. The President declared ""creating safe nuclear power, sustainable" to be a critical part of the creation of a more efficient, cleaner energy system and American energy independence. Yet almost nothing is happening on the nuclear front.

Under existing legislation, the Department of Energy has about $18.5 billion of loan guarantees to support proposed new nuclear plants. Additional support and guarantees from equipment supplying countries such as Japan and France might amount to another $9-10 billion. Yet the four nuclear power plants "selected" for fast tracking by the DOE require approximately $37 billion---a shortfall of $10 billion!

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission's budget was not increased this year-indeed the commission has never been granted adequate additional funding to prepare for a significant increase in nuclear license applications. Until 2007 almost 30 years had passed it received an application for a new plant. The Commission has capacity to review only a limited number of new license applications and has decided to focus on the four plants on the DOE shortlist and perhaps one other.

So at best...

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