Posted on 02/16/2010 10:59:38 AM PST by Willie Green
Washington (CNN) -- President Obama announced $8.3 billion in loan guarantees Tuesday for two nuclear reactors to be built in Burke County, Georgia.
A new nuclear power plant has not been built in the United States in three decades.
The new reactors are to be part of an expansion of an existing nuclear facility near Augusta, Georgia, operated by Atlanta-based Southern Co.
The loan guarantees will help create 3,500 on-site construction jobs and 850 permanent operations jobs, administration officials claimed. The reactors will help provide power to over 550,000 homes and 1.4 million people, it said.
"This is only the beginning," Obama said during a visit to an International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers training facility in Lanham, Maryland. "We'll continue to provide financing for clean energy projects ... across America."
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
I don’t get it either . . this is soooooooo out of context with Zero.
I like it. I think. Wait— I’m confused, is it OK to like something Obama does or am I being bamboozled?
Union jobs to build the plants. Then the enviro-nazis sue to keep them from becoming operational. The taxpayers cover the default. It’s just a more complex payoff to the unions.
Its one thing to give funding guarantees and another to approve it. I think O would knowingly make funds available yet make sure projects could never be (practically) approved. It makes him (its all about me) look good, like he’s doing something and cares (for someone other than himself).
With all the EPA rules in effect and the tree huggers united against them these plants are unlikely to ever be built. Also, even if possible their construction and certification will take years and years. As Rush pointed out, Bambi closed the waste storage facility so where will the waste be sent? Bambi putting another one over on the masses.
Georgia is a “right to work” state.
You are all wondering what the catch is. Obama is taking credit for a Bush initiative.
Southern Company applied for these loan guarantees under the Bush administration’s program. The loan guarantee was in a very advanced state of approval when Obama made this announcement.
Actually, Southern was so confident of receiving the loan guarantee that they began clearing ground in early 2009 for Vogtle Units 3 and 4. I was at Vogtle in July and a vast area had been cleared and leveled, with all access roads created. These plants are already under contract with Westinghouse and construction has started a couple of months ago.
Obama is essentially taking credit for the whole program, while the fact is that thishis announcement is just a formality.
During the Bush administration, Bush wanted to jump start the nuclear industry. A program was set up to provided $12 billion in loan guarantees. The program was immensely popular with utilities, and a total of $117 billion in loan applications were chasing that $12 billion. Southern Company was chosen because of its ease in site preparation, it is located in an area that is favorable for nuclear, and it has a good history with the NRC.
Remember the “stimulus” bill? In the first draft, there was a provision for $50 billion in loan guarantees for new nuclear plant constuction. Not payouts. Just loan guarantees, for low risk borrowers. Would have created tens of thousands of high paying construction and operation jobs. But it didn’t make it to the final draft. It was taken out by the democrats.
Now that we’ve gone almost a year with ~10% unemployment, Obama has become desperate enough that he is forced to enhance the very same Bush program which the democrats had previously rejected.
What’s the catch? Obama is tacitly admitting Bush was on the right track while taking credit for Bush’s idea.
But with Federal money comes union strings.
I think with Type 3 reactors, the waste can be reprocessed and reduced to insignificant amounts. Still there is SOME.
This is sure gonna help Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in Japan, or Alstom in England and France, and Russia and China.
They can make reactor vessels, steam generators, and pressurizers, and big steam turbines which we can’t make in this country anymore because we don’t have the heavy industrial capacity.
Don’t forget that all the engineers in our nuclear power plants are all retiring in droves with no real bottom feeding of young engineers or technicians having been done. Math is hard and we sure wouldn’t want our high schoolers and college kids to have to do anything hard.
Don’t forget government and environmental regulations and lawyers and NIMBYers and government required union workers will make the plants twice as expensive and take four times as long to build.
Excuse me for being a cynic.
PS: Look where 0bama made the announcement.
Unions, it's all about the unions.
until the king leaves office diddly squat will be done on these lawsuits that he knows will be filed its just smoke up everyones ass
Thanks for the analysis, kidd!
He and the Zero-team thought he would make mega-billions when cap and trade was passed. Once the oil companies were out of business, he would pick up their business.
That's what this is about.
The Tree Huggers will find some little gnats needing protecting, too.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.