It’s $8 billion in loan guarantees, but if you run the numbers, and assume a 4% interest rate savings as a result of the loan guarantees over a 10 year period, the new reactors are due to come on line in 2017, but they will be late, because they are always late, then you get about a $3.85 billion [(1.0410-1) x $8 billion] subsidy for the Southern Company to build two new reactors at their Vogtle plant.
Actually, the payback time is likely closer to 30 years, which means that the US government is actually paying Southern to build the plant, but depending on how you count it, it’s a f%$# load of money.