|
The following is a suggested reading list:
Selected Readings: US Advanced, Small, & Micro Reactor Programs
Chris Schneidmiller, “DoE Nuclear Energy Chief Reaffirms Interest in Reprocessing for US Spent Fuel,” Nuclear Exchange Monitor, May 15, 2020 https://www.exchangemonitor.com/doe-nuclear-energy- chief-reaffirms-interest-foreign-reprocessing-u-s-spent-fuel/?printmode=1
Sonal Patel, “DOE Launches Program to Demonstrate Advanced Nuclear Reactors Within 5 Years,” Power Magazine, May 14, 2020 https://www.powermag.com/doe-launches-program-to-demonstrate-advanced-nuclear-reactors- within-5-years/
Rebecca Beitsch, Trump’s Push to Use Global Aid for Nuclear Projects Alarms Development Groups,” The Hill, May, 6, 2020 https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/496295-trumps-push-to-use-global-aid-for-nuclear- projects-alarms
Jon Harper, “Safety Concerns Could Stymie Nuclear Reactor Plans,” National Defense Magazine, April 27, 2020 https://www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/articles/2020/4/27/safety-concerns-could-stymie-nuclear- reactor-plans
Department of Energy, “Restoring America’s Competitive Nuclear Advantage: A Strategy to Assure U.S. National Security,” April 23, 2020 https://www.energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2020/04/f74/Restoring%20America%27s%20Competitive%20 Nuclear%20Advantage-Blue%20version%5B1%5D.pdf
Aaron Mehta, “Pentagon to Award Mobile Nuclear Reactor Contracts This Week,” Defense News, Mar. 3, 2020 https://www.defensenews.com/smr/nuclear-arsenal/2020/03/09/pentagon-to-award-mobile- nuclear-reactor-contracts-this-week/
Sonal Patel, “Interest in DOE’s Versatile Test Reactor Heats Up,” Power Magazine, January 23, 2020 https://www.powermag.com/interest-in-does-versatile-test-reactor-heats-up/
David Dalton, “Generation IV / US And Japan Must Lead The Way, Says Commerce Secretary,” Nucnet, Dec. 23, 2019 https://www.nucnet.org/news/us-and-japan-must-lead-the-way-says-commerce- secretary-12-1-2019
Edwin Lyman, “The Pentagon wants to boldly go where no nuclear reactor has gone before. It won’t work,”The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, February 22, 2019 https://thebulletin.org/2019/02/the-pentagon-wants-to-boldly-go-where-no-nuclear-reactor-has-gone- before-it-wont-work/
The Nuclear Energy Institute, “Roadmap for the Deployment of Micro-Reactors for U.S. Department of Defense Domestic Installations,” October 4, 2018 https://www.nei.org/CorporateSite/media/filefolder/resources/reports-and-briefs/Road-map-micro- reactors-department-defense-201810.pdf
Victor Gilinsky and Henry Sokolski, “Let’s Not Promote Other Countries’ ‘Military’ Reactors,” forthcoming http://npolicy.org/article_file/Lets_Not_Protect_Other_Countries_Military_Reactors.pdf
The following is the brief memo on the Build Act:
DFC-International Development Finance Corporation-An Overview
The Build Act of 2018 combined OPIC (which focused on equity investments) with the USAID Development Credit Authority, an agency that primarily guaranteed loans made by US financial institutions and companies in developing country’s foreign currencies. DFC Officially launched in October 2019.
FY 2021 Budget Request
The Trump Administration has asked for $800 million for the DFC. FY 2020 funded the agency at $150 million. The increase is seen as a new direction for US foreign aid. The President seeks to decrease the overall foreign aid budget by roughly $14 billion.
“The Budget provides $0.8 billion for the DFC to support private sector growth in less developed countries and to provide a transparent, high-quality alternative to predatory Chinese international lending in the Indo-Pacific and other strategic regions. The Budget allows the DFC to make equity investments, increasing its ability to invest in critical private sector projects. Using these tools, the DFC would complement and enhance U.S. strategic and foreign policy objectives in the developing world.”
https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/budget_fy21.pdf
The Board of Directors
Wilbur Ross, Mike Pompeo, John Barsa (Acting Admin of USAID), Brent Mcintosh (Undersec. for Int’l Affairs at Treasury), Irving Bailey II (35-year career in financial services), Christopher Vincze (He’s the current CEO of an energy-infrastructure conglomerate-TRC Companies Inc.)
https://www.dfc.gov/who-we-are/board-directors
Oversight
1. Current GC Kevin Turner was previously GC of OPIC. Former Chief of Staff for Senator Luther Strange. $2 million was appropriated to the GC office in 2020 budget.
https://www.dfc.gov/who-we-are/executive-staff/kevin-turner
2. DFC is exempt from the Sunshine Act-OPIC was not exempt. Sunshine Act says that every portion of every meeting of a gov’t agency can be observed by the public. This is post-Watergate legislation. DFC is designed as a government entity where majority of leadership was appointed to lead other departments and agencies, thus the Trump Administration argues it isn’t an agency and therefore the Sunshine Act does not apply to it. (See board members above).
https://www.devex.com/news/opinion-no-sunshine-dfc-limits-transparency-when-it-is-needed-most-97093
For Reference-DFC predecessor OPIC had a track record of success. “OPIC operates at zero net cost to the US taxpayer and returns a profit to the government every year. For 39 consecutive years, OPIC has generated money for the U.S. Treasury at no net cost to U.S. taxpayers and has contributed $3.7 billion towards deficit reduction in the last 10 years. For every dollar spent in administrative expenses, OPIC collects eight dollars.”
https://www.forbes.com/sites/danielrunde/2017/04/05/we-shouldnt-be-eliminating-opic-we-should-be-putting-it-on-steroids/#7e4b60a83156
|
