Sen. Alexander: U.S. Should Invest In Nuclear Energy

By Sam Wechsler- Talk Radio News Service

Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) announced Monday his plan to build 100 new nuclear power plants in the next 20 years in order to create jobs, clean the air, and solve global warming. His blueprint is part of Senate Republicans’ fourfold plan for more clean energy: 100 new nuclear power plants, electric cars and trucks, offshore exploration of natural gas and oil, and doubling energy research and development to make renewable energy affordable.

Alexander criticized the Waxman-Markey Bill by saying, “What started out as an effort to address global warming by reducing carbon emissions has ended up as a contraption of taxes and mandates that will impose a huge and unnecessary burden on the economy.”

Alexander expects the 100 nuclear reactors to cost $700 billion in total, less than the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act cost. He also expects almost all of the money to come from private investment, some from foreign governments and manufacturers. Only the first dozen reactors would be with government money via loan guarantees, which would cost taxpayers no money at all.

He believes that nuclear energy is the best option for clean energy, partially due to its lack of interference with the ecosystem. “The great American outdoors is a revered part of the American character. We’ve spent a century preserving it; there is no need to destroy the environment in the name of saving the environment,” he said. The Senator later argued that a one square mile nuclear power plant would produce the same amount of energy as a 30 square mile solar plant, or 270 square miles of 50 story wind turbines.

According to Alexander, an exaggerated fear of nuclear technology and a failure to appreciate the density of its energy are holding back nuclear energy’s progression.

“Nuclear power is the obvious first step to a policy of clean and low-cost energy,” said Alexander.