More Subsidy for Nuclear Power?
by Jeffrey Miron on January 30th, 2010
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The Obama administration moved vigorously on two fronts Friday to promote nuclear power, proposing to triple federal loan guarantees for new projects and appointing a high-level panel to study what to do with nuclear waste.
One more example of picking winners and losers among industries; hardly government’s strong suit.
Plus, the U.S. already subsidizes nuclear energy via the Price-Anderson Act of 1957, which limits the liability of the nuclear power industry in the case of accidents.
This subsidy means the true costs of nuclear power are much higher than they appear. Although nuclear produces fewer greenhouse emissions than burning fossil fuel, it is probably not efficient even assuming a large negative effct from emissions.
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