Nuclear energy lobby working hard to win support

By Judy Pasternak

Sunday, January 24th, 2010 |

This story is being co-published with McClatchy Newspapers .

WASHINGTON – The Obama administration may soon guarantee as much as $18.5 billion in loans to build new nuclear reactors to generate electricity, and Congress is considering whether to add billions more to support an expansion of nuclear power.

These actions come after an extensive decade-long campaign in which companies and unions related to the industry have spent more than $600 million on lobbying and nearly $63 million on campaign contributions, according to an analysis by the Investigative Reporting Workshop at American University.

Nuclear power generates about 20 percent of America's ...