Issue Brief posted April 8, 2013 by Baker Spring, Jack Spencer
Mixed Oxide Fuel Facility in South Carolina Needs Congress’s Support
The Department of Energy (DOE) is constructing a facility at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina to produce mixed oxide (MOX) fuel, which consists of uranium oxide and plutonium oxide, for use in nuclear power reactors. This building project follows from a 2000 agreement with Russia to dispose of 34 metric tons of surplus weapons plutonium by each country. The DOE…
Issue Brief posted April 8, 2013 by Nicolas Loris, Jack Spencer, Katie Tubb
10 Questions for DOE Nominee Ernest Moniz
Dr. Ernest Moniz, if confirmed by the Senate as next Secretary of Energy, will be taking over a Department wrought with controversy from the past four years. During a time when energy development should be driving the economy forward, pernicious subsidy policies, missing leadership on nuclear waste disposal, and unnecessary limits on conventional fuel development on…
Issue Brief posted April 8, 2013 by Nicolas Loris, Jack Spencer, Katie Tubb
Ernest Moniz: In His Own Words
The President and his first-term Administration have encumbered American energy policy with subsidies, mandates, and micromanagement. Energy Secretary nominee Dr. Ernest Moniz seems to offer a seamless continuation of this approach by advocating a policy that dictates or manipulates the production, use, and path of energy in America from Washington. While energy policy is…
Issue Brief posted March 28, 2013 by Jack Spencer
Nuclear Waste Management: Minimum Requirements for Reforms and Legislation
Senator Ron Wyden (D–OR), chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, is expected to put forth a bill to reform nuclear waste management in the U.S. According to media reports, the bill under consideration maintains the same basic structure of America’s current, failed system for waste management.[1]
While such a bill might meet some near-term…
Backgrounder posted March 21, 2013 by Jack Spencer
U.S.–South Korea Nuclear Cooperation: Agreeing on Commercial and Nonproliferation Goals
The agreement between the United States government and the Republic of Korea (ROK) that allows commercial nuclear trade between the countries, referred to as a “123 agreement” since it is required by Section 123 of the Atomic Energy Act[1] expires in March 2014.[2] To avoid any lapses, the Obama Administration must conclude negotiations by spring 2013. This will allow the…
Issue Brief posted March 20, 2013 by Jack Spencer
Seven Reasons Loan Guarantees Are Bad Policy
Advocates of loan guarantees claim that this subsidy is a success when the recipient company remains in business. This is a superficial and misleading way to view loan guarantees. Indeed, loan guarantees are among the most pernicious ways that governments distort markets and harm American families and businesses alike. Here are seven reasons why.
1. Loan Guarantees Deny…
Backgrounder posted October 15, 2012 by Jack Spencer, Katie Tubb
Time to Allow Uranium Mining in Virginia
The federal government banned uranium mining on more than 1 million acres of federal land in Arizona.[1] Virginia lawmakers are considering doing the same in their own state. Buried 1,600 feet beneath a cattle farm in southern Virginia on a tract of private land called Coles Hill are 119 million pounds of uranium ore—the nation’s largest known deposit of uranium, and the…
Issue Brief posted March 23, 2012 by Jack Spencer
Whitfield Stands Up to EPA for Lower Gas Prices
Congressman Ed Whitfield (R–KY) released legislation yesterday that would force the Obama Administration to reveal how its environmental regulations impact gasoline prices.
Specifically, the Gasoline Regulations Act of 2012[1] would create a Transportation Fuels Regulatory Committee consisting of officials from the Departments of Energy, Transportation, Commerce,…
Backgrounder posted March 5, 2012 by Jack Spencer, Cornelius Milmoe
Obama Administration: No Confidence in Nuclear Energy
Abstract: A major public concern about nuclear reactors has been that the spent nuclear fuel could remain stranded at the reactor site indefinitely. In the 1970s, courts prohibited the Nuclear Regulatory Commission from licensing new reactors unless it assured the public that the waste would be removed—a requirement called the “waste confidence” rule. President Obama’s…
WebMemo posted December 13, 2011 by Jack Spencer, Romina Boccia
POWER Act: Doubling Down on Bad Energy Policy
The U.S. House of Representatives recently passed H.R. 2360, the Providing for Our Workforce and Energy Resources (POWER) Act, which according to its sponsor, Representative Jeff Landry (R–LA), would “close a loophole in existing law that allows offshore renewable energy resources to be installed and serviced by foreign workers.”[1] This would supposedly result in more…