Mr. Obama called for “a new generation of safe, clean nuclear power plants” in his State of the Union address last month and followed that by proposing to triple new federal loan guarantees for new nuclear plants.
The $54.5 billion is enough to help build six or seven new nuclear plants, which can cost at least $8 billion apiece.
The 104 nuclear reactors currently operating in 31 states provide about one-fifth of U.S. electricity.
Associated Press writers Darlene Superville and Ben Feller contributed to this story.
By John Solomon
How the government's punishing of the exposure of official wrongdoing can linger for years
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