Someone will get the loan, right?

Over the last few days, two recent developments in the wait for the final Department of Energy loan guarantee have sparked conversation.

According to reports, the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) plans to lend up to $4 billion to fund the NRG South Texas nuclear project. If this loan goes through it would be the country’s first state financing for an atomic power station abroad. But for the government-run bank to hand over any cash to fund the project, it must be guaranteed by the U.S. government. This loan deal could encourage utilities to invest in nuclear projects abroad which would support Prime Minister Naoto Kan’s goal of exporting infrastructure to boost the Japanese economy.

In the second development, The Washington Post reported that Constellation Energy is in disagreement with its French partner, Electricite de France, over a business deal. Both Constellation and EDF are equal partners in UniStar. UniStar wants to build a fleet of new reactors in the U.S. starting with a third unit at Constellation’s Calvert Cliffs plant in Maryland.

The disagreement reportedly stems from the $2 billion option that would force EDF to buy several of Constellation’s gas, coal and hydro plants. Like the South Texas project, Calvert Cliffs is waiting on a decision from the DOE on the federal loan guarantee.

I interviewed Mark Marano, Areva senior vice president of U.S. new build operations, for Power Engineering magazine’s Nuclear Power Executive Roundtable being published in the November issue.

“Both UniStar and NRG have been forced to scale back due to delays in receiving the conditional loan guarantees. The delay will clearly slow any efforts to spur any growth and any investment and any creation of jobs,” he said. “And the result sadly enough - we won’t be just talking about stimulating and adding jobs - the lack of action on loan guarantees could inherently cause the reverse reaction which is just the opposite of what its intent was.”

The November issue of Power Engineering magazine features my complete roundtable discussions with five industry experts. Among the topics discussed: Federal Loan Guarantees.

The industry as a whole and especially those looking at new build out continue to wait to see what the DOE’s next move is. But someone will get the loan, right?

Stay tuned.