Energy Dept to Approve $6.5 Billion in Loan Guarantees for Two Nuclear Reactors

By Alicia Mundy 

WASHINGTON--The Energy Department plans to grant final approval this week of $6.5 billion in loan guarantees for two nuclear reactors under construction in Georgia by a consortium led by Southern Co.

The money is part of a $8.3 billion package of loan guarantees that the federal government conditionally approved in 2010. The reactors won regulatory approval in 2012--the first nuclear power plants to clear the approval process since 1978, a year before the accident at Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania.

Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz plans to announce the loan deal at a speech at the National Press Club in Washington on Wednesday, according to two people familiar with the project.

Spokesmen for Southern and the Energy Department declined to comment.

The reactors will be part of the Vogtle electricity generating facility outside of Waynesboro, Ga., where two nuclear reactors already operate.

The loan guarantees show that the White House is committed to the "all of the above" energy policy that President Barack Obama touted in his State of the Union speech last month, said a person familiar with the project.

The strategy, which includes natural gas, oil, coal, solar and renewable fuels, has raised concerns among some environmental groups who want Mr. Obama to focus on renewable energy such as solar and wind power. Friends of the Earth said they are opposed to building nuclear power plants because such energy sources can contribute to climate change.

The overall cost for the new reactors at the Vogtle site is estimated at $14 billion. The remaining $1.8 billion in loan guarantees may be completed soon, a person familiar with the project said.

Write to Alicia Mundy at [e-mail]

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