First nuclear loan guarantees go to Georgia plant
The Obama administration will announce this week that it is awarding loan guarantees for two new reactors at a nuclear power plant in Burke, Georgia reports the Wall Street Journal. The loan guarantees to the Georgia plant will be first allocation of the $18.5 billion in guarantees Congress approved in 2005 for the construction of a new generation of nuclear power plants.
This week’s announcement follows on a flurry of nuclear activity within the Obama administration in the last month. In his State of the Union Address in late January, the President declared that his administration was committed to building a new generation of clean and safe nuclear power plants. Just a week later, the President released his 2010-2011 budget, which contained $54 billion in new nuclear loan guarantees, three times the amount authorized by Congress in 2005.
Virginia’s nuclear industry could benefit from the the renewed federal support for the nuclear renaissance. Dominion is seeking approval from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to add a third reactor to its North Anna Power Station and could be a contender to receive some of the Obama administration’s $54 billion in new loan guarantees.
The expansion of America’s nuclear generation also underscores the need to develop more domestic sources of uranium – the fuel that powers nuclear energy. The United States currently imports 85% of our uranium from foreign countries – with anywhere from 25% to 50% coming from Russia. Without developing new domestic sources, America’s reliance on foreign countries will only worsen as we build more and more reactors.
The Coles Hill uranium deposit located in Southside Virginia could play an important role in reducing America’s dependence on f0reign uranium. There is enough uranium at Coles Hill – the largest undeveloped deposit in the U.S. – to fuel Virginia’s entire nuclear supply as it stands now for 65 years.
