New nuclear power ‘wave’ — or just a ripple?

Industry gets a second wind
The industry’s first big step in its transformation from bastard stepchild to energy panacea and clean air savior came in 1997. That’s when Domenici delivered what he calls a “storied speech on nuclear power” at Harvard. The veteran senator was well-acquainted with nuclear issues by virtue of representing New Mexico, the birthplace of nuclear weapons and the home of two of the nation’s nuclear laboratories.

Long fascinated by “gee-whiz-bang technical stuff,” in the words of one acquaintance, and mindful of the nuclear industry’s improving efficiency record, Domenici became convinced the technology was not getting a fair shake. Urged on by a number of true believer aides that included Alex Flint, now the industry’s chief lobbyist, and Pete Lyons, now a Nuclear Regulatory Commission member, Domenici urged U.S. policy-makers to undo “bad decisions” of the past and harness “the full potential of the nucleus.”

The Domenici speech was followed up by a 1998 forum that gathered 60 participants from industry, government and academia to draft a plan to put nuclear power back on the nation’s energy agenda.

With those talking points in hand, the industry saw its best opening in years in the 2000 presidential election and backed the Bush-Cheney ticket with nearly $270,000 in contributions, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. The victorious Republicans welcomed industry representatives to their energy transition team and later private discussions by Vice President Dick Cheney’s task force on energy.

Familiar names from the 1998 forum popped up on the energy transition team: Flint, Domenici's former aide who was in between Senate staff jobs and working as a lobbyist for the industry; Flint’s new boss, former Louisiana Sen. Bennett Johnston, a strong ally of the nuclear industry while in Congress; and Joe Colvin, then president of NEI. At least another half-dozen of their industry colleagues also were involved.

Bush administration ties
But nuclear interests had long had the attention of Bush and Cheney, themselves major players in the oil and gas industry.

One of the biggest names on the Bush energy transition team was Thomas Kuhn, president of the Edison Electric Institute, which represents the electric power industry and its nuclear reactor owners. Not only was Kuhn the president’s Yale classmate and longtime friend, he was one of Bush’s biggest fund-raisers. A study by Common Cause found that in the six years that bracketed the 2000 election, Kuhn’s organization and its members gave $41 million to political campaigns, three-fourths of it to Republicans.

Cheney also had close ties to players with stakes in the nuclear sector. When the vice president was CEO of Halliburton, the company’s portfolio included Nuclear Utility Services. His close friend, former Texas Rep. Tom Loeffler, another big Republican fund-raiser, worked as a lobbyist on nuclear issues. And Cheney’s wife, Lynne, had served on the board of directors of Lockheed Martin, which earned millions from the federal government managing the Sandia Nuclear Laboratory in New Mexico.

Once in office, Cheney’s energy task force worked quickly and behind closed doors. Kuhn had regular input, though he was not a member of the group.

As the administration’s energy policy began to emerge in the spring of 2001, its support for the nuclear power industry was beyond “my wildest dreams,” Christian H. Poindexter, chairman of the Constellation Energy Group, later told the New York Times. A number of the policy’s final recommendations, including broad administration support for “the expansion of nuclear energy,” streamlining the regulatory process and opening the way to reprocessing spent fuel, had been included in the action plan drafted by the 1998 forum that followed Domenici’s Harvard speech.  

At a press conference in the spring of 2001 to herald the administration’s energy plan, Domenici congratulated Bush and Cheney for “being courageous and realistic” on the nuclear front and embarked on a four-year effort to turn the plan into law.

Task force records remain secret
Cheney's conduct of the task force sessions in secret angered journalists and others. Groups at opposite ends of the political spectrum sued over what Tom Fitton of the conservative group Judicial Watch, one of the plaintiffs, called an "unprecedented assertion of executive branch supremacy," but were largely unsuccessful in forcing the release of records they sought.

Six months after unveiling its energy plan, the administration forged ahead with the “Nuclear Power 2010 program,” which the Department of Energy described as a cost-sharing demonstration project by government and industry to get a new generation of nuclear reactors up and running by “early in the next decade.”

On Capitol Hill, however, energy legislation languished until Republicans regained control of the Senate in 2003, giving Domenici the chairmanship of the Senate Energy Committee. He hired back Flint, his former aide, from the nuclear lobbying ranks to direct the committee’s work and after 2½ years of horse-trading, parliamentary maneuvering and secret conference committee meetings, the bill finally became law in August 2005.

Flint has since returned to work for the industry as its chief lobbyist. Domenici, meanwhile, led the fight to build a new uranium enrichment plant in his state to help fuel the presumed nuclear resurgence. On June 23, 2006, it became the first nuclear facility to win a new NRC license in 30 years. Both have declined repeated requests to be interviewed by MSNBC.com.

The senator also has become a strong supporter of the Bush administration’s Global Nuclear Energy Partnership, a futuristic and controversial plan for the United States and other nuclear “haves” to supply technology to “have-nots.” The plan envisions the reprocessing of spent fuel, banned for decades by previous administrations because it was feared it could lead to the spread of nuclear weapons.

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