USA needs 'robust' nuclear industry for security

A Washington, DC-based organisation led by former US Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz has called for greater federal-level recognition of the importance of the USA's nuclear energy supply chain to national security. In its first major report, Energy Future Initiatives (EFI) recommends immediate government action to support and encourage existing and future new-build projects and strengthen the supply chain.

EFI's report, The US Nuclear Energy Enterprise: A Key National Security Enabler, examines the role nuclear energy enterprises play in meeting national security imperatives as well as their contribution to supplying electricity and maintaining a "robust" associated supply chain. These, the report says, are "intimately connected with US leadership in global nuclear non-proliferation policy and norms and with the nation's nuclear security capabilities".

The report identifies three "externalities" as drivers for public sector support for nuclear energy: mitigating climate change risk; managing energy supply price risk by maintaining fuel diversity; and contributing to national security. Nuclear energy contributes to the USA's national security through its connection with the country's leadership in global nuclear non-proliferation policy and its nuclear security capabilities.