WASHINGTON — The controversy over the Obama administration’s handling of solar energy subsidies is bringing new attention to the value and potential risks of taxpayer support for the construction of nuclear power plants. The matter could come to a head as the “Super Committee” in Congress looks for ways to cut the budget deficit.
The nonpartisan group Taxpayers for Common Sense is among a number of organizations urging a reexamination of taxpayer-backed loan guarantees for the construction of nuclear power plants. Without such guarantees, which could run into the tens of billions of dollars, it is considered unlikely that new nuclear plants would be built. Even before the disaster earlier this year at a Japanese nuclear power plant, US banks have balked at lending large amounts of money for nuclear plants without government guarantees that the loans will be paid off.
The Boston Globe wrote about the taxpayer-backed loan guarantees in an article early last year, “Nuclear Subsidies Put Taxpayers at Risk,” which quoted an Obama administration as saying, “We have tried to minimize the risk to the taxpayers, but there is always risk when you provide a loan guarantee.’’
Nuclear loan guarantees targeted by taxpayer group (The Boston Globe)
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