Barack Obama seems to have abandoned another of his supporters’ pet issues – supporting nuclear power plants – by providing loan guarantees for the construction of 2 power plants in Georgia. Obama recognizes:
Make no mistake: whether it is nuclear energy, or solar or wind energy, if we fail to invest in these technologies today, we’ll be importing them tomorrow.
Interestingly though, the NYT almost immediately contradicted him by pointing out (was this an analysis piece or a news story, one wonders!):
But these reactors were designed by Westinghouse, a subsidiary of Toshiba, and many major components will be fabricated abroad. And nuclear power is of limited use in offsetting oil imports.
Although the U.S. is the world’s largest generator of nuclear power, nuclear reactors provide only 20% of electric output. If the U.S. wants to wean itself off coal, petroleum and natural gas in favor of a cleaner source of energy, nuclear power is the best bet.
