President Obama today announced that his Energy Department had
approved an $8.3 billion loan guarantee to build two new
nuclear power plants in Georgia. If built, they would be the
first new plants in the United States since the 1970s. Obama
announced support for nuclear energy in his State of the Union
speech last month, as a nod to bipartisanship. And Republican
Sen. Lamar Alexander was
quick to praise the move.
Conservatives have long advocated removing regulatory barriers
and building more nuclear power plants, but due to the riskiness
of the enterprise, it would be difficult for energy companies to
raise money to actually construct them -- thus government ends up
getting involved by having taxpayers absorb the risk. As much as
I'd like to see more nuclear power plants built, I still can't
bring myself to supporting government subsidies.
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