Trump Proposes Bigger Nuclear Power Budget

Feb. 13, 2020 (EIRNS)—“U.S. President Donald Trump has boosted the budget for nuclear energy and security for Fiscal Year 2021,” reported Future Power Technology online monthly on Feb. 12. Trump allocated $19.8 billion in his proposed Energy Department budget for national nuclear security, and $1.2 billion for nuclear energy research and development. The previous fiscal year’s proposal for nuclear R&D had been $824 million.

The magazine quoted from the budget document: “Nuclear energy is also critical to the Nation’s energy mix and the Budget supports an array of programs to advance nuclear energy technologies. This portfolio promotes revitalization of the domestic industry and the ability of domestic technologies to compete abroad.”

Some $259 million is assigned to funding for the Versatile Test Reactor, a fast-neutron test reactor to be developed by 2026. An additional $150 million is to build a uranium reserve.