deep cuts in defense spending (as happened during
the Great Depression). Joint Force commanders could
then find their capabilities diminished at the moment
they may have to undertake increasingly dangerous
missions (Mattis 2010, 26).The President has identified energy as the single
most fundamental issue affecting our future (Obama
2009). The President has been consistent in expressing
the need for clean and sustainable energy.
The nuclear power plants making up the current
U.S. fleet have been described as “cash machines”
(WNA 2011c), in that they are able to produce large
amounts of electricity at operating and maintenance
(O&M) costs lower than fossil fuel fired plants, includ-
ing coal plants. This is an attractive economic pros-
pect, especially in light of 20-year operating license
extensions which have been regularly granted by the
Nuclear Regulatory Commission, beyond the initial
40 year operating license (Deutch et al. 2009, 5). These
extensions have proven warranted based on the cur-
rent physical condition of the nuclear plants, which
exceeded the conservative estimates used in the origi-
nal licensing. This same degree of quality and pur-
poseful over-engineering have also allowed the out-
put of the reactors to be increased during the lifetime
of the plants, allowing the amount of energy supplied
to U.S. consumers to increase without increasing the
number of reactors (Deutch et al. 2009, 5).
Despite this situation, the economic barrier to
construct additional nuclear capacity has been high,
largely attributable to initial capital costs and the fi-
nancing of these costs. While China is significantly
expanding its nuclear energy capacity, U.S. expansion
is much more modest. A major difference between
nuclear energy in the United States and China is that