Citing reasons ranging from the economy to nonproliferation, experts have taken to NationalJournal.com's Energy & Environment Expert Blog this week to argue against Congress helping revive the nuclear industry.

Industry supporters say that federal loan guarantees for nuclear energy on top of an already-announced $18.5 billion and creation of a Clean Energy Deployment Administration would create jobs, help cut greenhouse gas emissions and ultimately provide an affordable form of energy production. "New nuclear plants are expected to cost $6 billion to $8 billion, yet they will produce electricity 24/7 at a competitive cost," writes Nuclear Energy Institute President and CEO Marvin Fertel. "In fact, all mainstream analyses demonstrate that new nuclear energy facilities will be among the lowest-cost sources of electricity in a carbon-constrained world."

Other experts aren't convinced federal support is the answer. Ellen Vancko, nuclear energy expert at the Union of Concerned Scientists, takes NEI to task for its financial requests: "Congress should just say no to more handouts for the nuclear power industry. If $18.5 billion in promised loan guarantees isn't enough to enable the industry to prove that it can deliver a few first-mover units on time and on budget, then perhaps we should look elsewhere for our climate solutions."

More subsidies for nuclear energy could be dangerous as well as expensive, according to Henry D. Sokolski, executive director of the Nonproliferation Policy Education Center, who argues the subsidies would "make it even more difficult for the U.S. to discourage the governments of Syria, Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Iran, Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, Libya, and Turkey from making similar nuclear specific investments."

David Kreutzer, a senior policy analyst with the Heritage Foundation, adds that the real problem plaguing the industry isn't financial shortfalls but the "legal and regulatory impediments and the federal government's ineptitude in the area of waste disposal."

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