Department of Energy gets a run on nuclear handouts but won't release the list

The U.S. Department of Energy has revealed it received applications for federal taxpayer-backed loan guarantees from 17 utilities in time for its September 29 deadline but the agency will not say who they are. Furthermore, the applications - for the construction of 21 new reactors at 14 U.S. sites - total up to at least $122 billion. "Only" $18.5 billion in federal loan guarantees was set aside late last year. DOE admits that 21 new reactors would actually cost $188 billion. An additional $4 billion was sought by companies presumably hoping to build new uranium enrichment plants. Half that amount was set aside in the total $20.5 billion federal loan guarantee package. The DOE's Loan Guarantee Program Office Director, David Frantz, told reporters that $18.5 billion would likely only accommodate two new reactors. The DOE's secretiveness over the identities of the applicants is puzzling given that many have publicly declared their applications and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's Web site lists all new applications.