{"id":371820,"date":"2025-03-25T07:12:19","date_gmt":"2025-03-25T06:12:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=371820"},"modified":"2025-03-25T07:12:21","modified_gmt":"2025-03-25T06:12:21","slug":"nuclear-subsidies-did-does-wright-get-the-message","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=371820","title":{"rendered":"Nuclear Subsidies: Did DOE\u2019s Wright Get the Message?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From Master Resource<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Kennedy Maize<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cSince its 2009 formation under Obama, ARPA-E within the U.S. Department of Energy has awarded about $4.2 billion to some 1,700 energy projects. The latest nuclear revival continues a long string of starts-and-stops for a technology that has been more promise than performance.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Energy Secretary Chris Wright and the White House appear to be headed for a clash on major DOE spending programs, including the agency\u2019s Loan Programs Office<\/a> and the main research arm, Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy<\/a> (ARPA-Energy).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last week, DOE earmarked another $57.8 billion in federal money to the Palisades nuclear plant resurrection in Michigan, part of a $1.52 DOE billion loan to Holtec International for the project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since DOE\u2019s Loan Programs Office approved<\/a> the deal last September, the agency has doled out almost $96 million for the restart of the 805-MW reactor that shut down in 2022, starting with $38 million this January.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Biden administration and two Democratic Michigan governors, Gretchen Whitmer and her predecessor, Jennifer Granholm, who was also Biden\u2019s energy secretary, were important parts of the impetus behind the Palisades subsidy. Despite this prehistory, Wright said: \u201cToday\u2019s action is yet another step toward advancing President Trump\u2019s commitment to increase domestic energy production, bolster our security and lower costs for the American people.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As keynote speaker at ARPA-E\u2019s annual \u201csummit\u201d meeting<\/a> at a Maryland resort, Wright touted the technology (modeled on the DOD\u2019s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) as essential in the AI race in terms of U.S. national defense and medical science.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

The only way we can get there is if we grow our energy system faster and faster, and that\u2019s why you are all here. There is a huge, life-changing opportunity for innovation there.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Since its 2009 formation under Obama, ARPA-E has awarded about $4.2 billion to some 1,700 energy projects<\/a>. The latest nuclear revival continues a long string of starts-and-stops for a technology that has been more promise than performance, from \u201ctoo cheap to meter\u201d in 1954 to George W. Bush\u2019s Energy Policy Act of 2005 allocating $2 billion for up to six new reactor projects<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fiscal Prudency?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On January 28, the White House\u2019s Office of Management and budget produced a 52-page spreadsheet (obtained by Bloomberg)<\/a> listing targets for a spending axe or Elon Musk\u2019s chain saw. Among the myriad targets: DOE\u2019s Loan Program Office and ARPA-E. The next day, a federal judge issued a temporary hold on those program cuts, which expired in February. No cuts have been made to date.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The DOE press release on the Palisades funds characterized the financing as a \u201cloan guarantee,\u201d a term the federal government and Congress stole in 2005 to imply that Uncle Sam was simply backstopping private sector money. The aim was to free up money for the construction of new nuclear plants after the first generation had fizzled out. But the solons didn\u2019t want it to look like they were risking taxpayer dollars, which they were.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That didn\u2019t work \u2013 as the outrageously expensive new Vogtle<\/a> units in Georgia and the failed V.C. Summer<\/a> project in South Carolina demonstrated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A conventional loan guarantee, as defined by Investopedia<\/a>, is \u201ca type of loan in which a third party agrees to pay if the borrower should default.\u201d DOE\u2019s \u201cloan guarantees\u201d are loans, much like car loans. The borrower provides a down payment of 20% and DOE picks up the rest. The loans are approved by the Treasury Department and disbursed by Treasury\u2019s Federal Financing Bank, which also collects loan payments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the Code of Federal Regulations<\/a>, \u201cThe full faith and credit of the United States is pledged to the payment of principal and interest.\u201d If a borrower defaults on principal or interest payments, and \u201csuch default has not been cured within the applicable grace period, the (Treasury) Secretary shall notify the Attorney General.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Political Controversy<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The DOE loan authorities have come under fire since the 2011 collapse of the advanced solar photovoltaic firm Solyndra<\/a>, leaving the Obama administration holding a bag containing a $527 million default.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A 2012 monograph from the Nonproliferation Policy Education Center \u2013 Pure Risk: Federal Clean Energy Loan Guarantees \u2013 offered a series of critiques of the loan guarantees, especially for nuclear plants. NPEC Executive Director Henry Sokolski wrote in a foreword:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

This volume spotlights the costs and risks associated with federal clean energy loan guarantees\u2026.They point to the half billion dollars Solyndra has already cost U.S. taxpayers.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

In 2017, Rep. Randy Weber (R-Texas) and four other hard-right House conservatives \u2013 Mark Meadows of North Carolina, Pete Sessions of Texas, Gary Palmer of Alabama, and Jim Jordan of Ohio \u2013 introduced legislation<\/a> to \u201camend the Energy Policy Act of 2005 to repeal certain loan guarantee programs of the Department of Energy, and for other purposes.\u201d It went nowhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Heritage Foundation\u2019s 2023 book Mandate for Leadership Project 2025<\/a> \u2013 which Trump disdained during the campaign and has frequently attempted to implement once in office \u2013 says the \u201cDOE Loan Program should be eliminated or reformed,\u201d along with a list of other DOE subsidy programs including the \u201cDOE Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations (OCED); Office of State and Community Energy Programs; ARPA-E; Office of Grid Deployment (OGD).\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Euthanizing of those DOE programs would require congressional action, which is unlikely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

False Promises Perennial Hopes<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vaclav Smil [Energy Myths and Realities <\/em>(AEI Press, 2010)] has described nuclear fission as a \u201csuccessful failure.\u201d On the positive side: \u201c\u201cNuclear fission is a reliable, high-capacity, high load mode of electricity generation, which makes it an ideal complement to various renewable conservation modes that still have mostly low-capacity, moderate-load, and unpredictably intermittent operations.\u201d But instead of meeting expectations, he adds, \u201cnuclear power has fulfilled only a fraction of its original promise.\u201d [1]<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump 47\u2019s DOE needs to think through nuclear policy from the ground up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[1]<\/strong> Vaclav Smil, Energy Myths and Realities <\/em>(Washington, DC: AEI Press, 2010), pp, 42, 40, 32.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014-<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is a slightly revised version of what was originally posted<\/a> at The Quad Report<\/a>, the blog site of electricity expert Kennedy Maize. Other posts by Maize at MasterResource are here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cSince its 2009 formation under Obama, ARPA-E within the U.S. Department of Energy has awarded about $4.2 billion to some 1,700 energy projects. The latest nuclear revival continues a long string of starts-and-stops for a technology that has been more promise than performance.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":371822,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691834030,691818336,691833758,691834031,691834032,691834033,691822598],"class_list":{"0":"post-371820","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"tag-advanced-research-projects-agency-energy-arpa-energy","9":"tag-biden-administration","10":"tag-energy-secretary-chris-wright","11":"tag-gretchen-whitmer","12":"tag-jennifer-granholm","13":"tag-new-nuclear-plants","14":"tag-u-s-department-of-energy","16":"fallback-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/0-Energy-Secretary-Chris-Wright.png?fit=1640%2C922&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-1yJ6","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":411572,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=411572","url_meta":{"origin":371820,"position":0},"title":"US Nuclear Power\u00a0Revival","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"11\/04\/2025","format":false,"excerpt":"With a strong push from the Trump White House, for the first time since Three Mile Island, the nuclear energy industry in the U.S. is bullish about its future. 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