Outlook Rosy for Nuclear Industry, Despite Unsolved Problems of Waste and Safety
The Obama administration is considering granting as much as $18.5 billion in loan guarantees to the nuclear industry to build new reactors, and Congress is considering adding billions more to expand nuclear power in the U.S., even though the problems of safety and what to do with nuclear waste remain unsolved.
The positive outlook for the industry comes after an intense decade of lobbying, in which the nuclear industry and its allies, in aggregate, have spent over $600 million on lobbying and almost $63 million on campaign contributions, according to the Investigative Reporting Workshop at American University.