So what are nuclear lobbyists up to? The Daily Beast has a report...

[kristopher]

"There has been little counterbalance to the nuclear lobbyists. “You could squeeze the critics of the nuclear industry into a phone booth.”"

...Flint, the chief lobbyist for the Nuclear Energy Institute—the policy arm of the U.S. nuclear industry—has practically been living on the Hill since the nuclear crisis in Japan began to unfold. The day after the tsunami he swept every other paper off his desk and went into 24/7 mode, blasting out emails three times a day and trying to reassure skittish lawmakers that U.S. reactors are safe.

He is, in short, engaged in white-hot damage control.

The Fukushima disaster has set off alarm bells for America’s 104 nuclear plants. By midweek Flint and his team had briefed 50 members of Congress and more than 300 staffers. A former staff director of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, Flint confidently declares: “We still stand by our forecast of four to eight new plants online by 2020.”

But Fukushima could ultimately deal a setback to...

http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2011-03-24/nuclear-power-lobbyists-panic-after-japan/?cid=topic:mainpromo4

[spanone]

1. fighting for their very existence.....

[kristopher]

2. Do you see the comment at te end of the snip about 2020?

That is exactly the same claim they made in 2002; only then the date was 2010.

It is never ending. This puts the entire endeavor into perspective:
CBO estimate on nuclear loan guarantees

For this estimate, CBO assumes that the first nuclear plant built using a federal loan guarantee would have a capacity of 1,100 megawatts and have associated project costs of $2.5 billion. We expect that such a plant would be located at the site of an existing nuclear plant and would employ a reactor design certified by the NRC prior to construction. This plant would be the first to be licensed under the NRC’s new licensing procedures, which have been extensively revised over the past decade.

Based on current industry practices, CBO expects that any new nuclear construction project would be financed with 50 percent equity and 50 percent debt. The high equity participation reflects the current practice of purchasing energy assets using high equity stakes, 100 percent in some cases, used by companies likely to undertake a new nuclear construction project. Thus, we assume that the government loan guarantee would cover half the construction cost of a new plant, or $1.25 billion in 2011.

CBO considers the risk of default on such a loan guarantee to be very high—well above 50 percent. The key factor accounting for this risk is that we expect that the plant would be uneconomic to operate because of its high construction costs, relative to other electricity generation sources. In addition, this project would have significant technical risk because it would be the first of a new generation of nuclear plants, as well as project delay and interruption risk due to licensing and regulatory proceedings.

Note the price - $2.5 billion was to be only for the first plant. Future plants were, according to the assumptions provided by the nuclear industry, expected to have lower costs as economy of scale resulted in savings.

In fact, since the report was written the estimated cost has risen to an average of about $8 billion.

Wonder what that does to the “risk is that … the plant would be uneconomic to operate because of its high construction costs, relative to other electricity generation sources”?

Does that risk diminish or increase when the price rises from $2.5 billion to $8 billion?

[RKP5637]

4. And, "this project would have significant technical risk because it would be the first of a new

generation of nuclear plants" means IMO we'll have to do significant upgrades over the years after built. Certainly not cheap and risk free.

[RKP5637]

3. Even if absolutely 100% safe, IMO there has never been a sound solution as to

what to do with the waste.

[tnlefty]

5. Rec'd

and bookmarked, thanks.

[inna]

6. damn, Obama. this is really fucked up.

[99th_Monkey]

7. Flint "briefed" 50 members of Congress? Since when is threatening, buying off, bribing, etc.

called "briefing"? I didn't get the fucking memo.

[kristopher]

8. No? I think I read copy somewhere...

Taxpayer money is a key issue.... “You could squeeze the critics of the nuclear industry into a phone booth. The NEI is the big player here and are able to hand out huge sums to members of Congress seeking to keep or get their jobs.” Government support is crucial because the loans are considered sufficiently risky that Wall Street “won’t lend a nickel to nuclear energy and hasn’t for 30 years,” says Alvarez.


Let's repeat that, "...Government support is crucial because the loans are considered sufficiently risky that Wall Street “won’t lend a nickel to nuclear energy and hasn’t for 30 years”"

They told DOE in 2002 they needed 50% loan guarantees and that with $18B in that program they could build 5 reactors.

They got it (and more).

By 2008 it was clear that no one would touch them with 50% guarantees so they asked Bush for more. He said no.

In 2009 Obama steps up to the plate and increases the loan guarantee amount to 80% and adds another $36 billion to the $18B already allocated. The additional funds haven't yet been allocated.

What they really want is a full government commitment to build 100 more reactors in the US, which is what McCain campaigned on. Since that isn't possible without transferring all risk to the public sector. It would completely eradicate any possibility for renewables also, by giving through dictate to the nuclear industry the market share that renewables would otherwise win with their more competitive profile.

i just came across this from 2008. A WP factcheck type article on the attack Hillary made about Obama's link with the nuclear industry.
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2008/02/obamas_backroom_deal.html

;div class="excerpt"]Hillary Clinton has leveled a serious charge against Barack Obama, her colleague on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. During the ABC-Politico forum earlier this week, she suggested that Obama "cut some deals" on nuclear regulatory legislation with the Exelon company of Illinois, a major nuclear power operator. She implied that the backroom "deal" was somehow connected to contributions to the Obama campaign from Exelon.

Both the Obama campaign and Exelon strongly deny these charges, while acknowledging "contacts" between Obama staffers and Exelon officials on the nuclear bill. For the record, Obama has not received any corporate contributions from Exelon. But senior Exelon executives have contributed more than $160,000 to Obama's presidential campaign and $46,000 to his 2004 Senate run.

So what is going on here?...

[lostnfound]

10. They get LOAN guarantees AND liability caps.

What a business, hey? Think any of us could get loan guarantees and liability caps from our congressmen, for some kind of business we plan to start?

[lostnfound]

9. Flint: Hit Revolving Door at least twice - lobbyist, then senate staff, then lobbyist

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11845981/ns/politics/

Most recently, Flint left his job as majority staff director for the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, where he was a key player in legislation that provided billions in subsidies to the nuclear industry, to become the chief lobbyist for the industry’s largest trade group, the Nuclear Energy Institute.

Flint was hired for the Senate post in 2003 after spending several years as a lobbyist representing a number of large firms with deep interests in the nuclear power field, as well as the NEI. Flint’s boss on the committee was Chairman Pete Domenici, R-N.M., an unabashed booster of the nuclear power industry who has received thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from employees of the companies that Flint represents.

As a lobbyist, Flint was himself a frequent donor to Domenici’s campaigns before being rehired by the senator. And many of Flint’s qualifications to lobby for the nuclear industry in the first place were acquired through earlier jobs working for Domenici as a staff assistant, legislative aide and clerk of an energy subcommittee chaired by the senator.

And..here's a photo of Mr. Flint, so that WHEN a half million or of our own countrymen are living in fear for the nuclear plant undergoing a meltdown or accidental release of radioactive materials into their neighborhoods, WHEN American children are being given those iodide pills to prevent thyroid cancer, we'll have a clear picture in our minds of exactly who is responsible. I don't want it to happen to MY child, but I also don't want it to happen to ANYONE ELSE's child, and it is INEVITABLE that if you have nuclear power, there will one day be accidents that cause this kind of panic, and probably some horrifying teratogenic effects too.