Nuclear energy could play a key role in transforming America and creating new jobs
- Edited by Stephen Heiser -
According to a report in the Foster Folley News, America's 104 nuclear power plants produce three-quarters of our carbon-free electricity and are among the few bright spots in the U.S. economy. Expanding rather than contracting, the nuclear energy industry actually provides thousands of green jobs. Electric power companies have filed federal permits to build up to 26 new nuclear reactors in the U.S. In addition, reactor designers and manufacturers are expanding engineering centers and manufacturing facilities and their payrolls.
Nuclear job growth is already well underway in North Carolina, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Louisiana. In Lake Charles, La., the Shaw Group and Westinghouse will employ 1,400 workers. In Newport News, Va., Northrop Grumman and AREVA are building a $360 million facility to manufacture massive reactor vessels and stream generators. These and other companies have already hired more than 9,000 employees and invested more than $4 billion in developing new nuclear manufacturing and business operations.
Still, the green nuclear U.S. electricity industry faces a challenge. The industry must invest between $1.5 trillion and $2 trillion in new power plants, transmission and distribution systems to meet a 25 percent increase in electricity demand by 2030, according to an industry-funded study by the Brattle Group.
To create more jobs, the nuclear power industry requires financing. The clean energy loan guarantee program authorized by the 2005 Energy Policy Act, which was designed to jump start construction on a few clean energy projects, was a key step in the right direction. The $18.5 billion in loan guarantees currently authorized for new nuclear power projects could support three projects.
Creating a new federal financing corporation called the Clean Energy Development Bank, modeled after the U.S. Export-Import Bank, could help grow green jobs. The bank could ensure that capital flows to clean technology deployment -- renewables, advanced coal-based systems, nuclear and other clean fuels -- in the electric power sector.
Unlike many of the proposed infrastructure programs that require direct government spending, a Clean Energy Bank would be self-financing. The companies using the program would pay the federal government the cost of providing the guarantee, as well as all administrative expenses, so the program will actually generate revenue. By reducing the cost of capital, the program will reduce power prices to all consumers -- residential, commercial, and industrial.