Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Obama likes nukes

President Obama has become a big supporter of nuclear power:

US President Barack Obama has taken a major bet on nuclear power, announcing $US8 billion ($9 billion) in loan guarantees to build the first new plant on US soil in nearly 30 years.

Mr Obama said nuclear power, despite concerns among some environmentalists over safety, must play a key role in an energy policy designed to cut greenhouse gas emissions and wean the United States off foreign oil from volatile regions.

"On an issue which affects our economy, our security, and the future of our planet, we cannot continue to be mired in the same old debates between left and right, between environmentalists and entrepreneurs," Mr Obama said today.

"We'll have to build a new generation of safe, clean nuclear power plants in America," he said on a visit to a training centre focusing on clean energy and low carbon energy technologies outside Washington.

I'm not sure why loan guarantees are required but promoting the only emission free baseload power source sounds good to me. Perhaps he can tell Kevin Rudd about the benefits when he visits Australia next month.

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