President Bush called on utilities to begin building as many as 30 new nuclear plants by 2010 in order to keep pace with the country's soaring electricity demand and combat global warming.
"It's time for the country to start building nuclear power plants again," Bush told an audience of about 250 at the recently restarted Browns Ferry nuclear plant in Huntsville, Ala., operated by the Tennessee Valley Authority.
Bush predicted the Nuclear Regulatory Commission would get 20 applications from utilities to build up to 30 new reactors. No new licenses have been filed at the NRC since 1973 (Reuters/PlanetArk, June 22).
"If you're interested in cleaning up the air, then you ought to be an advocate for nuclear power," Bush said. He also noted the need for the United States to invest money in technologies to recycle nuclear waste (Faulk/Dean, Birmingham News, June 22).
But nuclear power critics pointed out the irony in Bush choosing to announce his support for it at Browns Ferry. In the mid-1970s, the plant was the site of the second-most-severe nuclear accident in U.S. history.
"The Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant has a dubious history and can hardly be held up as a model for the industry," said Michele Boyd, legislative director of Public Citizen's energy program. "Instead of representing the future of nuclear power, it stands as the premier example of why we stopped ordering new reactors in the first place" (Henry J. Pulizzi, Wall Street Journal online, June 21). -- KB
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