Skip to main content

Ex-Im Bank Supports Nuclear Energy Exports & National Security

By

The U.S. Ex-Im Bank supports national security interests. As a group of former national security officials – including retired General Jim Jones, former U.S. Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs Stephen Hadley, and one-time U.S. Trade Representative Carla Hills – have argued, Ex-Im Bank provides critical support to exports that have strategic value:
The Ex-Im Bank is one of the most important tools in our system of government to enable US companies to compete and secure business in overseas markets. As much as the United States has done to promote the creation of free markets and fair trade, it remains an imperfect world. The foreign competitors of US manufacturers all have access to export credit agencies in their countries of origin – many of which are much larger and do not abide by the same stringent rules as the Ex-Im Bank. The Ex-Im Bank levels the playing field for our companies, whether small, medium or large, and enables them to participate in international tenders where their goods and services will be evaluated on an equal basis against their foreign competitors. Indeed, many global customers require access to export credit agency funding as a prerequisite to submit a proposal. Without access to the Ex-Im Bank, US manufacturers could lose deals before they even begin to assemble their bids.

To us, it is inconceivable that some in Congress could contemplate dismantling the Ex-Im Bank while the dynamics of global trade remain as they are. Unilateral disarmament has never been considered a viable defense policy, and we cannot think of a reason why it should be considered a rational export policy.
Nuclear energy is a prime example. Without Ex-Im Bank support, U.S. companies would specifically be at a severe disadvantage against international rivals, which offer competitive financing and strong state support for their nuclear bids. When U.S. firms win foreign nuclear energy tenders, U.S. interests in energy security, nuclear safety and nonproliferation are advanced. U.S. firms face formidable international competitors – all of which receive competitive export financing.

Commercial and economic diplomacy are critical elements of national security and the involvement of U.S. companies in global markets benefits our economy while driving growth and political stability worldwide. Congress must make growing exports a priority and pass a long-term, multi-year extension of the Export-Import Bank.

Popular posts from this blog

Activists' Claims Distort Facts about Advanced Reactor Design

By
Below is from our rapid response team . Yesterday, regional anti-nuclear organizations asked federal nuclear energy regulators to launch an investigation into what it claims are “newly identified flaws” in Westinghouse’s advanced reactor design, the AP1000. During a teleconference releasing a report on the subject, participants urged the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to suspend license reviews of proposed AP1000 reactors. In its news release, even the groups making these allegations provide conflicting information on its findings. In one instance, the groups cite “dozens of corrosion holes” at reactor vessels and in another says that eight holes have been documented. In all cases, there is another containment mechanism that would provide a barrier to radiation release. Below, we examine why these claims are unwarranted and why the AP1000 design certification process should continue as designated by the NRC. Myth: In the AP1000 reactor design, the gap between the shield bu...
23 comments
Read more

How many nuclear plants does it take to meet the world's energy needs?

By
Several weeks ago Joshua Pearce at Clarion University in Pennsylvania released a study titled “ Thermodynamic limitations to nuclear energy deployment as a greenhouse gas mitigation technology .” In the study he stated... nuclear energy production would have to increase by 10.5% per year from 2010 to 2050 to both replace fossil-fuel-energy use and meet the future energy demands. This line, of course, made the headlines and has been picked up by several outlets and blogs . When looking into his calculations for this statement, he made one assumption error that overstated the above sentence by nearly a factor of three. Page 121, Section 4.1 of the study states: Richard Smalley pointed out that in 2004, the global economy consumed the equivalent of 220 million barrels of oil per day, which converted into electricity terms is the equivalent of 14.5 TeraWatts (TW), or 14,500,000 MegaWatts (MW) (2005). … With a nuclear plant having about 1000 MW (1 GW) of capacity, we would need 14,500...
7 comments
Read more

What Happens During a Refueling Outage?

By
You may have noticed over the past few weeks that a number of nuclear plants are shut down for refueling outages or are resuming operations after just returning from one. This type of routine outage usually occurs in the spring or fall when electricity demand is low so that nuclear reactors can replace about one-third of the spent fuel rods with new fuel and conduct other routine maintenance and repairs at the plant. To get a better sense of how refueling works at a nuclear energy facility, I spoke with Marcus Nichol, NEI’s senior project manager for used fuel storage and transportation, and asked him to explain the basics. Why does a nuclear plant need to replace one-third of its fuel? Nichol: The main purpose of a refueling outage is to replace older fuel that is depleted—meaning it can no longer efficiently produce energy from nuclear fission reactions—with new fuel. This “used fuel” has typically been used in the reactor for four-and-a-half to six years before it is pe...
6 comments
Read more