Last month, President Obama announced billions of dollars in federal loan guarantees for the construction and operation of the first new U.S. nuclear power plant in almost 30 years.

In February, President Barack Obama announced that his administration will encourage a boost in United States nuclear energy production, saying that the U.S. Department of Energy has offered conditional commitments for a total of $8.33 billion in loan guarantees for the construction and operation of two new nuclear reactors at a plant in Burke, Ga.

“When the new nuclear reactors come on line, they will provide reliable, base-load electricity capable of serving about 550,000 residences or 1.4 million people,” according to the Energy Department.

Americans are demanding increasingly more electricity each year as the economy continues to produce more technology products, and few seem to have a clean-energy solution to compete with nuclear power. Nuclear plants do not burn fuel and so do not produce carbon dioxide emissions. Although access to permanent disposal of nuclear waste presents a continued economic and environmental concern, American nuclear power plants are considered markedly efficient.

In the U.S., there have been no new nuclear construction starts in more than 30 years, largely because gas generation has been considered more economically attractive. This has been compounded by heightened safety fears following the Three Mile Island accident in 1979. As the Atlanta Journal-Constitution says, “Americans have never been completely comfortable with nuclear power.” Opponents also say that new nuclear plants cost too much (the two reactors in Georgia will run about $14 billion) and are a risky bet.

Nonetheless, U.S. reliance on nuclear power has continued to grow: In 1980, nuclear plants produced 251 billion kWh, accounting for 11 percent of the country’s electricity generation; in 2008, output had risen to 809 billion kWh. In the U.S., nuclear power currently creates nearly 20 percent of electricity.

Today, nearly 440 nuclear reactors produce electricity around the world, according to the World Nuclear Association. Most reactors currently planned are in Asian countires with fast-growing economies and rapidly rising electricity demand. Many countries with existing nuclear power programs plan to build new power reactors in addition to those currently under construction.

Increased federal assistance could help the U.S. keep pace with France, China, Russia and other countries that have turned to nuclear power for their future energy needs.

While the president’s overall policy on nuclear power may seem inconsistent with his administration’s move to eliminate the nuclear waste depository at Yucca Mountain, Nev., Obama is “casting the nuclear initiative as a centerpiece of his plan to produce clean-energy jobs,” the Washington Post explains.

In his Feb. 16 speech to union officials in Lanham, Md., Obama portrayed last month’s decision as part of a broad strategy to increase clean-power generation and employment, saying:

If we fail to invest in the technologies of tomorrow, then we’re going to be importing those technologies instead of exporting them. We will fall behind. Jobs will be produced overseas instead of here in the United States of America.

Citing industry projections, the DOE says the two new 1,100-megawatt nuclear reactors at the Alvin W. Vogtle Electric Generating Plant will create approximately 3,500 on-site construction jobs. Once the nuclear reactors become operational, the project is expected to create 800 permanent jobs.

Following the president’s announcement, the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) commended his administration, saying a new nuclear plant can add $500 million annually to the economy. On job creation, NAM said the actions will “not only speed up construction on the first two new nuclear reactors to be built in the United States in nearly 30 years, but will give a much-needed boost to U.S. manufacturing while creating thousands of high-paying jobs.”

“Once a nuclear plant is up and running it can generate between 400 and 700 jobs locally,” NAM President John Engler said in a statement.

“Construction on the two reactors would not begin for more than a year,” the Post reports. Despite the financing, the reactors’ design has not yet been fully approved by the NRC, according to the New York Times.

“The builders hope to have a license to build and run the plant by the end of next year, under a revised process that is supposed to eliminate problems that caused huge cost overruns in the 1970s and 1980s, when regulatory changes during construction added billions to costs,” the Times says. “About 100 reactors were abandoned during construction in that era.”

If it moves forward, the Georgia project will be the first U.S. nuclear power plant to break ground in nearly three decades.

Obama said this project is “only the beginning” for nuclear power, though he also acknowledged that the nation should finally figure out where to dispose of its nuclear waste. To that end, he’ll convene a “bipartisan group of leaders and nuclear experts to examine this challenge.”

Earlier

A Nuclear Revival: Are We Ready, Willing and Able?

Nuclear Power: Prospects and Problems

Resources

Remarks by the President on Energy in Lanham, Maryland
WhiteHouse.gov, Feb. 16, 2010

…Obama Announces Loan Guarantees to Construct New Nuclear Power Reactors in Georgia
U.S. Dept. of Energy, Feb. 16, 2010

Backgrounder on the Three Mile Island Accident
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Aug. 11, 2009

Pro & Con: Should Taxpayers Subsidize Loan Guarantees for Nuclear Power?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Feb. 22, 2010

Nuclear Power in the USA
World Nuclear Association

Nuclear Power Today
World Nuclear Association

Obama Offers Loan to Help Fund Two Nuclear Reactors
by Michael D. Shear and Steven Mufson
The Washington Post, Feb. 17, 2010

NAM Says Nuclear Plant Federal Loan Guarantee Will Create Jobs
by John Engler
National Association of Manufacturers, Feb. 16, 2010

U.S. Supports New Nuclear Reactors in Georgia
by Matthew L. Wald
The New York Times, Feb.16, 2010