US President Barack Obama announced US$8.3 billion in loan guarantees on Tuesday to build the first US nuclear power plant in nearly three decades, a move designed to help advance climate legislation in Congress.
Obama, a Democrat trying to win Republican support for a bill to overhaul US energy practices, said the US needed to increase its supply of nuclear power to meet its energy needs and fight climate change.
The government backing will go to help Southern Co build two reactors at a plant in the state of Georgia. The reactors, which some experts estimate will cost US$8.8 billion, could be in service in 2016 and 2017.
PHOTO: EPA
“Even though we’ve not broken ground on a ... new nuclear power plant in 30 years, nuclear energy remains our largest source of fuel that produces no carbon emissions,” Obama said after touring a union education center in Lanham, Maryland.
“To meet our growing energy needs and prevent the worst consequences of climate change, we’ll need to increase our supply of nuclear power,” he said.
Obama is pushing for a law that would cap greenhouse gas emissions from industry and expand the use of renewable fuel sources such as wind and solar.
By reaching out to Republicans on the nuclear issue — a top priority for key opposition lawmakers such as former presidential candidate John McCain — the Obama administration hopes support for the stalled climate bill will grow.
That hope may not come to fruition.
Republicans are eager to expand nuclear power and offshore drilling but are resistant to Obama’s proposal for a greenhouse gas emissions trading system similar to the EU’s.
Still, aid to the nuclear sector could draw support for the climate bill from states in the south and midwest with huge utility companies that run nuclear and coal plants.
Obama said the climate bill, which contains a cap-and-trade system, would help create incentives for cleaner fuels such as nuclear. He said his administration would work to develop what he saw as common ground on the bill with Republicans.
“We’re not going to achieve a big boost in nuclear capacity unless we also create a system of incentives to make clean energy profitable,” Obama said.
“As long as producing carbon pollution carries no cost, traditional plants that use fossil fuels will be more cost-effective than plants that use nuclear fuel,” he said.
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