In Lanham, Maryland President Obama yesterday laid out an eight billion dollar plan on nuclear power, unveiling loan guarantees to spur construction on the first new U.S. nuclear plant since the Three Mile Island Nuclear Power Plant accident in 1979. President Obama said nuclear power must play a key role in an energy policy designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and wean the U.S. of foreign oil from volatile regions such as the Middle East. "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." Obama said. "We'll have to build a new generation of safe, clean nuclear power plants in America," he told journalists on a visit to a training center focusing on clean energy and low carbon energy technologies outside Washington. "We are announcing roughly eight billion dollars in loan guarantees to break ground on the first nuclear plant in our country in nearly three decades," said Obama.
The loan guarantees are supposedly going towards the construction of two new 1100 megawatt nuclear reactors at an existing nuclear facility in Burke, Georgia. Obama's plan is supposed to create 3000 construction jobs and eventually some 830 permanent jobs. Obama said this was only the beginning. President Obama stated that America's competitors were beating us to the punch such as Japan and France for example. There are 56 nuclear reactors built worldwide: there are 21 in China, 6 in South Korea, and 5 in India. Obama stated with the threat of "climate change" it was imperative that America invest in nuclear energy. What a turnaround in policy!
Is President Obama serious about constructing new nuclear power plants in America? Only time will tell. It could be nothing but lip service. However, if President Obama will carry out "his" plans to build nuclear energy plants, that will be the first notable accomplishment of his administration. It's hard for me to believe that President Obama would do so given his liberal supporters are opposed to using nuclear power as an energy alternative. There are two types of groups opposed to the building of nuclear power plants. For one thing, there are watchdog groups that are opposed to spending money on building nuclear plants because of concern of its scale and impact. The environmentalists are another group that's opposed to building nuclear plants. The reason for their opposition is supposedly due to safety concerns, citing the Three Mile accident in 1979. However, most of the nuclear power plants in America are built safely and it's rare to have a nuclear accident. I know in Russia there was an accident at Chernobyl in 1986, but the Russians poorly construct their nuclear facilities. However, all the opposition that the environmentalists and other groups give for opposing nuclear power plants are just an excuse to prevent America from weaning itself away from foreign oil.
Why is President Obama all of a sudden deciding to "build" nuclear power plants? First of all, it's too premature to say whether President Obama will carry through with building nuclear plants. Anything could happen. I remember when President Bush was in office and he and the Republicans were trying to lift the ban from drilling for oil in the Arctic. However, I believe the whole incident was a charade. Obama's "plan" to build nuclear power plants could be a charade simply because the Democrats in power are in trouble of losing control of power in Congress this November. Also, President Obama's approval ratings have been slipping for several months. There are some polls that say his approval rating is below 50%. Therefore, Obama recognizes he needs to reach out to the voters, especially the independent voter that are loyal to neither the Democrats nor Republicans. That might be the purpose of him making the decision to build nuclear power plants. If lower approval ratings will help motivate President Obama to make some right decisions in regards to America's best interests, then that's great. We desperately need to build nuclear power plants so we won't have to dig for coal all the time. Much of the nation's electricity comes from coal.
Only time will tell whether or not President Obama is sincere in his "desires" to build nuclear plants. If he is, he's doing the right thing in this scenario and I agree with that move. However, it's nothing new for both Democrats and Republicans to put on a charade to appease the angry voter. President Obama knows the average voter is angry so he's trying to find ways to appease the disgruntled voters. I'm all for nuclear plants and other forms of alternative energy that will place America on the path to energy independence. Nuclear power is a clean form of energy. I believe our nation's cities need to invest in nuclear energy. That will greatly reduce the need for oil and coal. We need to diversify when it comes to energy resources. Building nuclear power plants will be the first step in the right direction.
No comments:
Post a Comment