Obama nuke plant loan reflects new energy strategy

[TomCADem]

Source: Associated Press

WASHINGTON – The Obama administration's planned loan guarantee to build the first nuclear power plant in the U.S in almost three decades is part of a broad shift in energy strategy to lessen dependence on foreign oil and reduce the use of other fossil fuels blamed for global warming.

President Barack Obama called for "a new generation of safe, clean nuclear power plants" in his Jan. 27 State of the Union speech and followed that by proposing to triple loan guarantees for new nuclear plants. He wants to use nuclear power and other alternative sources of energy in his effort to shift energy policy.

* * *

The proposed new reactors would generate power for some 1.4 million people and employ about 850 people, the administration official said, adding that the Georgia project would create about 3,000 construction jobs.

Spiraling costs, safety concerns and opposition from environmentalists have kept utilities from building any new nuclear power plants in the U.S. since the early 1980s. The 104 nuclear reactors now in operation in 31 states provide about 20 percent of the nation's electricity. But they are responsible for 70 percent of the power from pollution-free sources, including wind, solar and hydroelectric dams that Obama has championed as a way to save the environment and economy at the same time.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_obama_nuclear_plant

[420inTN]

1. Need to invest in Thorium Reactors

Much less waste, with a much shorter half-life. And it doesn't produce any weapons-grade material.

[MadHound]

2. Stupid move,

They haven't figured out what to do with the waste, how to prevent human error, and that nuclear is costlier than solar.

We need to invest in the future, not the dead dinosaurs of the past.

[Wilms]

3. What's so pollution free about mining and processing uranium?

And how about the carbon-footprint just building a nuke plant?

:shrug: