One of the more surprising elements of Obama’s first State of the Union address was the way in which he addressed clean energy initiatives:
“To create more of these clean energy jobs, we need more production, more efficiency, more incentives. That means building a new generation of safe, clean nuclear power plants in this country. It means making tough decisions about opening new offshore areas for oil and gas development.”
A Democratic president calling for more nuclear energy?
Indeed, Obama’s 2011 budget, released today, contains a request for $54 billion in loan guarantees for new nuclear reactors—triple the previous amount. Adding to that, the U.S. Energy Department, led by Steven Chu, just announced its own plan to study the handling of increased nuclear waste.
Nuclear power currently supplies roughly 20% of U.S. energy (France alone derives 75% of its electricity from nuclear energy). In the short- and medium-term, the biggest challenge will be scaling this existing base. The nuclear industry suffers from a labor shortage, at all skill levels since, for the past few decades, Western countries have been attracting and training very few nuclear engineers. Additionally, nuclear infrastructure benefits little from existing production lines (unlike solar and wind power components). On a variety of fronts, a nuclear strategy is exorbitantly expensive.
Another hurdle is the offensive reputation from which the industry suffers. Rife with fearful emotions, political charge and outdated ideas, nuclear energy could use a modern, more factual PR campaign that integrates the industry in to the wider conversation on clean energy.
But hey, Washington is attempting to rescue the Edwards camp (Saint John Edwards is re-building Haiti!). It should find the nuclear issue a cinch.
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Daniel J. Weiss, Senior Fellow and Director for Climate Strategy at American Progress, introduces how complicated and politically dubious nuclear loan guarantees are.
And, today’s Wall Street Journal has a good 4-part infographic on the 2011 budget allocations.
