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The Value of the US Nuclear Power Complex to US National Security (2019)

Auteur	R.F.Ichord, B.Oosterveld
	3-01-3-10-04.pdf
Datum	oktober 2019
Classificatie	3.01.3.10/04 (VS - PROLIFERATIEBELEID - ALGEMEEN)
Voorkant

The Value of the US Nuclear Power Complex to US National Security
ISSUE BRIEF
OCTOBER 2019 
DR. ROBERT F. ICHORD, JR.
BART OOSTERVELD

I. INTRODUCTION
In this analysis, the Atlantic Council has set out to estimate the value
that the civilian nuclear power sector contributes to the United States’
national security apparatus. Based on a series of inputs, this analysis
and conservative estimation found that the nuclear power complex
contributes an equivalent of more than $42.4 billion to US national security,
as broadly defined. In other words, the lack of a civilian nuclear
sector would present an immediate and significant economic shock
(and impact on the labor force)—which, in turn, would have immediate
and longer-term budgetary implications for the US government.

The definition of national security can be viewed narrowly or more
broadly, in terms of both the scope of the institutional assets and providers
of national security services and the types of functions or services
they undertake. This analysis includes both nuclear utilities and
nuclear generators, as well as US military and defense facilities, as providing
critical national security functions. The utilities and generators
provide secure and reliable electricity, accounting for 19.3 percent of
total US electricity generation in 2018, and they contribute significantly
to the diversified energy-generation mix that the United States enjoys.