Texas Gov. Greg Abbott says he “looks forward” to signing into law a $350 million subsidy for the nuclear energy industry after the state legislature passed the bill this month.

The subsidy is less than the $2 billion that was originally proposed but is still the most expensive in the U.S. by far. Wyoming’s $150 million program was previously the largest state-level nuclear subsidy, according to the Houston Chronicle.

Companies are limited to receiving $132.5 million and must meet benchmarks or repay the grant. The lieutenant governor and speaker of the Texas House can both veto any subsidy.

Still, critics wonder why taxpayer funds will be spent on handouts instead of loans. If the nuclear energy companies create high-paying jobs and bring billions of dollars of investment to Texas, they will have no problem repaying a loan.

The bill will also create a Texas Advanced Nuclear Energy Office within the Office of the Governor to advise Abbott and promote technological innovation. Taxpayers will presumably fund salaries for the office’s staff, increasing the $16.4 million payroll of the Office of the Governor.

The nuclear industry received $26 billion in federal subsidies from 2010 to 2023, according to the Texas Public Policy Foundation.

The Foundation argues that subsidies are “inherently anti-free-enterprise and anti-taxpayer” and can prevent innovation. Energy companies will be motivated to use only the technologies that are subsidized by the government and have no reason to try and create new, more efficient technologies.

Texas also does not have a perfect track record for its nuclear power plants. The Comanche Peak power plant in Fort Worth took 19 years to open while its price tag soared from $750 million to $11 billion. The South Texas Project Electric Generating Station was supposed to cost $964 million but was actually $5.5 billion. Both plants used a mix of public and private funds, and for years taxpayers had the cost added to their energy bills as a non-bypassable charge.

Green energy subsidies of any kind are a favorite target of conservatives, so turnabout is fair. While it’s possible Texas’ investments in nuclear energy will help the economy over time, taxpayers will always look back and wonder if they would have been better served by a plan that did not spend $350 million of their money.

(The #WasteOfTheDay is from forensic auditors at OpenTheBooks.com via RealClearWire.)