Washington (Platts)--2Oct2009/457 pm EDT/2057 GMT

US Under Secretary of Energy Kristina Johnson said promoting the expansion of civilian nuclear power in the US is important to the Obama administration, adding that her tenure at the Department of Energy "won't be as successful" if no new reactors result from the administration's energy policy.

"We all believe that nuclear has to be part of the mix," Johnson said Thursday at a European Institute seminar in Washington. "We're all committed to providing energy security and greenhouse-gas reduction and helping the economy."

Some proponents of nuclear energy have questioned the administration's commitment to the industry because of its decision earlier this year to end DOE's years-long effort to build a national nuclear-waste repository in Nevada. But Energy Secretary Steven Chu and his lieutenants at DOE have maintained the department will continue to support new-reactor technologies and loan guarantees to assist the construction of reactors.

Johnson, a former Johns Hopkins University provost who oversees DOE's energy programs, said the department is considering various options for encouraging reactors of different sizes, including small units that could be mass-produced and installed to serve modest-sized markets.

She also said DOE is "very interested in expanding" loan-guarantee program for nuclear reactors "so we can build new power plants." Congress has authorized DOE to offer $18.5 billion in loan guarantees for nuclear projects, an amount considered sufficient for four or five new plants.

"I think when I look back on my time here, if we've not built any new nuclear plants, I'll have felt my time had not been as successful," Johnson said. "It won't be a failure, but it won't be as successful."

--Bill Loveless, bill_loveless@platts.com