Trump's push to use global aid for nuclear projects alarms development groups

How can the United States increase their dominance in the energy sector? This article, published by The Hill, dives into a recent action by President Trump to bolster the nuclear industry.  Countries like Russia and China are currently dominating the nuclear sector and there is an opportunity for the United States to step back into a leadership position by selling nuclear power technology off to smaller countries. An idea that the Nuclear Fuels Working Group is promoting is bundling funding for foreign countries with nuclear projects. A lot of critics are against it though because “setting up nuclear power systems requires a higher level of infrastructure, meaning overseas projects might be more likely to find a home in Eastern Europe than Sub-Saharan Africa” so it won’t benefit poorer countries because they don’t have the ability to use these systems currently. It is a catch 22 because these countries don’t have the capability to support these changes, but in order to advance as a country, they need this power source to boost their economy. Critics of these changes believe that America is just doing this to advance their own interests rather than out of care for smaller countries. “This change could help bring a zero-emission power source to the developing world while offering an alternative to the predatory financing of authoritarian regimes...America’s broad strategy of energy dominance has a gaping vulnerability...This reality threatens American energy security, narrows or eliminates foreign policy options and erodes American international influence” It is important for the United States to remain on top in the energy industry because Russia and China do not have the best motives and are more interested in securing a long term contract where they can take advantage of smaller countries. Smaller countries need an adequate amount of energy to increase their infrastructure and have different opportunities that energy requires. It’s important that the energy be affordable, because much like it is in this country, having energy doesn’t mean you can afford to run all of the electronics you need to live sustainably. Nuclear energy is risky because it has failed to compete with renewable energy and natural gases as of late, but it would be a good opportunity to expand the energy industry.