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NuclearPlantJournal.com Nuclear Plant Journal, September-October 2015
The
American
Edge
By Marvin Fertel, Nuclear Energy
Institute.
Marvin Fertel
Marv Fertel is president and chief
executive officer of the Nuclear Energy
Institute (NEI) which is the policy
organization for the U.S. nuclear
industry and represents the industry in
addressing generic
technical regulatory
issues before the
Nuclear Regulatory
Commission; as
well as policy and
legislative activities
with the Congress
and the Executive
Branch.
Mr. Fertel has
over 40 years of
experience working
with the electric
utility industry on
issues related to
designing, siting,
licensing and
managing both fossil
and nuclear plants.
He has worked in executive positions
with such organizations as Ebasco,
Management Analysis Company and
Tenera. In November 1990, he joined the
U.S. Council for Energy Awareness as
vice president of Technical Programs.
With the formation of NEI in 1994, he
became NEI’s vice president of Nuclear
Economics and Fuel Supply. Mr. Fertel
was named senior vice president and
chief nuclear officer in 2003 and in
2009 he was named President and Chief
Executive Officer of NEI.
An interview by Newal Agnihotri, Editor
of Nuclear Plant Journal, at the Utility
Working Conference in Amelia Island,
Florida on August 12, 2015.
1.
What’s the status of Export-Import
(EXIM) Bank reauthorization?
Marvin: We’ve been very, very
active in the coalition trying to get EXIM
Bank reauthorized. We’ve been working
with the Chamber of Commerce, with the
National Association of Manufacturers,
with all of our member companies, for
sure. We’re obviously disappointed
that it hasn’t been reauthorized yet, but
we’re going to continue to work hard
to try and get it reauthorized as either
part of the highway bill or part of some
sort of omnibus or through some other
mechanism before the end of 2015. We
just think it’s absolutely absurd that
there’s resistance to the EXIM Bank.
It creates jobs in
America. It pays for
itself over and over
again with the fees
that it gets. We will
be the only major
industrial country that
does not have a bank
like that, if we don’t
reauthorize it. And it’s
critical from a nuclear
projects standpoint,
because most, if not
all of the tenders
for nuclear plants
worldwide
request
the support of your
EXIM Bank, even
if they don’t want
the money, because
it’s a sign that the
government is supportive of the proposal
that’s being made by the companies.
So, it could exclude us completely from
bidding in places if we can’t do that. If
it gets to the floor for a vote, we actually
think we have a very large support vote in
both the House and the Senate.
2.
What’s the status of the staff and the
infrastructure EXIM Bank has?
Actually, when the authorization
expired, it prevented the bank from
issuing new loans, but all of the loans that
are in place, they’re still managing. So, I
don’t think there’s been any reduction in
staff or anything yet because they know
that there’s still a good chance they’re
going to get reauthorized and have to
do their job. If it becomes a protracted
period, like it’s not happening, then
I’m sure they’re going to have to look
at reduction in staff, but we have heard
nothing about them doing anything yet to
reduce staff.
3.
What recourse do the vendors have
right now to receive financing?
The only recourse they would have
right now is basically to go to private
sector financing.
In some cases private banks would
even be in it. Even if EXIM was backing
you, it might be a mixture of the two, but
what’s missing is EXIM for countries
that really need that kind of support. And
again, on new tenders, we may not even
be able to bid if we can’t show support by
the EXIM Bank.
The interest rate’s higher without
the involvement of EXIM, and also the
plants are expensive. It’s a lot of money
for banks, and they like to share the
risk more. So you might have to do a
consortium of banks.
The global market for nuclear goods
and services is enormous. The Commerce
Department has estimated that over the
next decade it’s valued at upward of $750
billion.
4.
Provide an overview of the global
construction program?
Outside of the U.S. the only place
the US is building right now is in China.
I think that the US sees opportunities
in the UK to build. I think the US sees
opportunity in Eastern Europe, if they
move forward, to build. While everybody
was very enthusiastic about the Middle
East, I think that’s become much harder
and maybe much slower because
everybody was enthusiastic about Saudi
Arabia, and they seem to be going slower
than anticipated. Westinghouse obviously
is always in a joint venture with Toshiba,
and they’re looking at plants in Vietnam.
The Japanese are going to get a plant in
Vietnam. I think that the joint venture
thing, still works for our companies, but
when you talk about Russia or China, or to
some degree even France, our challenge
is that you’re, again, competing against
state-owned companies, for the most part
or the whole part in some cases, entities,
which can bring a lot more to the table,
as the Russians do. I’m sure that the
Chinese will bring financing wherever
they go. It makes it very difficult for
us, and particularly if we don’t have the
Export-Import Bank.
