Boosts sought for Gen Ⅳ, NP 2010, hydrogen

摘要

With the Department of Energy in general— and the executive branch as a whole—seeking less money in fiscal year 2006 than in FY 2005, the major nuclear energy programs fared well, with increases requested from Congress. To the extent that momentum may have been building over the past year toward a nuclear power renaissance, the Bush administration's fiscal year 2006 budget request to Congress generally does not put any obstacles in the path. Indeed, the Energy Department programs that provide the most support to both near-term power reactor deployment and long-term advanced reactor development have been recommended for increases in FY 2006 over their FY 2005 budgets, at a time when the proposed budget for the whole DOE—and the entire federal government— is leaner in the next fiscal year than it is in the current one. With the executive and legislative branches controlled by the same political party, the big-ticket nuclear programs may get what they want. The prospects of a renaissance, however, may depend on more legislation than just the Energy and Water Appropriations Bill, and the early signs are that prospects for this extra legislation are uncertain.