Obama Administration Supports Nuclear Power Plant Development

Increased Loan Guarantees to Build Power Plants.

The Obama Administration will be announcing loan guarantees for a nuclear power plant next week.  This will be the first such plant built in nearly thirty years.

Although the Department of Energy was established by President Jimmy Carter in 1977 to lessen our dependence on foreign oil, environmentalist successfully halted the development of the industry.  From 1975 to 1980, 63 nuclear plant constructions were cancelled in the U.S.  The 1986 Chernobyl disaster created further opposition, even though the issue was the problematic design of the Chernobyl reactors lacking proper containment; the type that were only used in the Soviet Union.  Recently; however, environmentalist are changing their tone about nuclear power since it emits zero greenhouse gases.  “You can’t just write nuclear off”  – “I think everybody feels you have to at least look again” at nuclear power – said Judi Greenwald, Director of Innovative Solutions with the Pew Center on Global Climate Change.  A very different attitude from the “No Nukes” days…  Hard-core environmentalists; however, still prefer wind and solar and consider them more cost-effective and safer.

In his State of the Union speech, the President called for “a new generation of safe, clean nuclear power plants” and proposed to triple loan guarantees for new construction.  There was $18.5 billion previously budgeted but not yet allocated.  Obama is proposing to add another $36 billion in federal loan guarantees.  Each plant can cost approximately $ 8 billion to $10 billion, so the $54.5 billion total could help build six new nuclear facilities.  Since the industry has a bad record on cost overruns and loan defaults, some critics call the guarantees a form of subsidy and are concerned about tax payers taking on too much risk.  Progress will hardly be immediate.  There are 13 power plant applications being considered for construction and operating licenses to date, and they will not be approved before the end of 2011 or early 2012.

Green energy is a huge platform for President Obama’s domestic agenda, and now he broadened the spectrum to include nuclear power plants, clean-coal technology, and even offshore oil drilling.  There is still concern about the raising energy costs because of the Administration’s plan to limit heat-trapping pollution.

President Obama’s Secretary of Energy, Steven Chu, a scientist and Nobel Prize winner in Physics has long been an advocate of nuclear power as an alternative energy source.  He points out that coal releases at least 50 percent more radioactivity than nuclear power plants.   Indeed, fly ash, a by-product from burning coal for power, contains many times more radiation than nuclear waste.

The United States is the largest producer of Nuclear energy in the world, yet  current production covers only 18% of our total elecrical energy needs.  In contrast, 80% of France’s energy needs are being met by nuclear power.  Each reactor could provide power for approximately 1.4 million people and employ 850 workers.  There would also be construction jobs created in the thousands.  It is still an uphill battle with the environmentalist, because of nuclear waste concerns.   A special commission was appointed by the President to find solutions to the problem.

This new proposal by President Obama indicates his determination to lessen our dependency on foreign oil and with bipartisan support the bill to extend further loan guarantees for nuclear power plant development should be a success.  In Secretary Steven Chu, who is not a politician, but a scientist, the Administration has the right person for the job to implement the undertaking of this new energy policy.

Short URL: http://worldnewsvine.com/?p=7757

Published on Feb 13 2010. Filed under Earth Sciences, Environment, Green Technologies, National News, News, News and Opinions by Livia Sappington, Opinion Editorial, Science and Tech, US Business News.

Tagged with Chernobyl, Green Technology, loan guarantee, nuclear energy, nuclear waste, President Obama, Secretary of Energy Department, Steven Chu

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