The U.S. government plans to buy and own as many as 10 new, large nuclear reactors that could be paid for using Japan’s $550 billion funding pledge, part of a push to meet surging demand for electricity.
The new details of the unusual arrangement were outlined Wednesday by Carl Coe, the U.S. Department of Energy’s chief of staff, about the nonbinding commitment made by Japan in October to fund $550 billion in U.S. projects, including as much as $80 billion for the construction of new reactors made by Westinghouse Electric.
“The role of having the government involved in private markets is sacrosanct — you just don’t do it,” Coe said at an energy conference hosted by the Tennessee Advanced Energy Business Council. “But this is a national emergency.”
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