U.S. Sens. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., today commended the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation’s (DFC) decision to allow nuclear energy projects to apply for financing—as Murkowski and Manchin requested in an October 2019 letter to DFC.

“Nuclear energy technology can help meet the world’s clean energy needs,” Murkowski said. “Our energy future is global, and steps like this DFC decision are crucial to meeting climate and energy leadership goals. Developing economies can better access safe, reliable, affordable, and emissions-free energy with nuclear power as an option. Lifting this prohibition will simultaneously strengthen the U.S. economy while boosting international relations and global energy security.” 

“It is more important than ever to promote job growth in the U.S. This change in policy provides further tools for U.S. companies to access what has grown to a nearly two-billion-dollar a year export industry. Increased U.S. competitiveness will allow for U.S. regulatory safeguards and environmental standards to be adopted abroad. Nuclear energy has an important role to play in achieving our clean energy future. Eliminating the prohibition is an important step in reducing global emissions as well as an investment in our economy,” Manchin said. 

Murkowski launched a Strategic Energy Initiative in July 2019 to broaden the portfolio of U.S. energy dominance, including lifting DFC’s nuclear energy prohibition. In October 2019, Murkowski and Manchin led a bipartisan group of senators in requesting the DFC take action. Last week, the DFC voted to reverse the categorical prohibition on civil nuclear, instituted when its predecessor the Overseas Private Investment Corporation was reauthorized in 2009. The proposed policy change now enters a 30-day comment period.

Murkowski is Chairman, and Manchin is Ranking Member, of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.