Nuclear Loan Guarantees Another Taxpayer Bailout Ahead?

The report examines the history of nuclear power cost overruns and subsequent bailouts in the U.S., arguing that current federal loan guarantee programs under the Energy Policy Act of 2005 create significant risk for taxpayers. It highlights a pattern of underestimated construction costs and a lack of private financing interest, suggesting that the potential risk exposure to the government could reach $1.6 trillion depending on the number of plants built.

• The first generation of U.S. nuclear power plants experienced massive cost overruns; a 1986 DOE study found that 75 plants built between 1966 and 1977 exceeded initial estimates by more than 200 percent.
• The U.S. public has already funded two major nuclear industry bailouts: ratepayers bore over $200 billion in cost overruns for completed plants, and taxpayers and ratepayers shared costs for abandoned plants totaling $40 billion to $50 billion in 2006 dollars.
• During the restructuring of the electricity industry in the 1990s, states securitized approximately $40 billion in 'stranded costs' from nuclear plants as of 2006, shifting the burden of uneconomical investments to customers and taxpayers.
• Projected costs for new nuclear reactors have risen sharply; while 2002 estimates were $1,200 to $1,500 per kilowatt, the DOE received 19 applications for 21 reactors in 2008 with an estimated total cost of $188 billion, averaging $9 billion per unit.
• Major investment banks, including Citigroup and Goldman Sachs, informed the DOE in 2007 that they were unwilling to provide loans for new nuclear plants unless the federal government guaranteed 100 percent of the risks.
• The DOE's loan guarantee program is criticized for lacking adequate oversight and management mechanisms, as noted by the GAO, which found the agency is not well positioned to manage the program effectively.
• The potential financial risk to U.S. taxpayers from nuclear loan guarantees is estimated to range from $360 billion (for 100 plants at current costs) to $1.6 trillion (for 300 plants with costs 50 percent higher than current estimates), based on a 50 percent average default risk.

APA

Schlissel, D., Mullett, M., & Alvarez, R. (2009). Nuclear Loan Guarantees Another Taxpayer Bailout Ahead? Union of Concerned Scientists. https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/2019-09/nuclear-loan-guarantees.pdf

Chicago

Schlissel, David, Michael Mullett, and Robert Alvarez. Nuclear Loan Guarantees Another Taxpayer Bailout Ahead? Union of Concerned Scientists, 2009. https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/2019-09/nuclear-loan-guarantees.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Schlissel |first1=David |last2=Mullett |first2=Michael |last3=Alvarez |first3=Robert |title=Nuclear Loan Guarantees Another Taxpayer Bailout Ahead? |publisher=Union of Concerned Scientists |date=March 2009 |url=https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/2019-09/nuclear-loan-guarantees.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{schlissel2009nuclear, author = {Schlissel, David and Mullett, Michael and Alvarez, Robert}, title = {{Nuclear Loan Guarantees Another Taxpayer Bailout Ahead?}}, institution = {Union of Concerned Scientists}, year = {2009}, month = mar, url = {https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/2019-09/nuclear-loan-guarantees.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }