Domenici Praises Focus on Nuclear Energy in UN Climate Change Report
May 4, 2007
03:25 PM
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Pete Domenici, ranking member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, today praised the inclusion of nuclear power in the latest United Nationals Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report issued in Bangkok Friday.
The IPCC panel, which was established by the UN to assess scientific, technical, and socio-economic information relevant for the understanding of climate change, includes a major expansion of nuclear power as a solution that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve the world’s climate.
“This is a no-brainer: any realistic plan to reduce carbon emissions in a meaningful way must include a vast expansion of nuclear power. The IPCC is right to include nuclear energy as a necessary part of the climate change solution,” said Domenici, who is the author of “A Brighter Tomorrow: Fulfilling the Promise of Nuclear Energy.”
“Nuclear power is clean, safe, and efficient. Most importantly, its available right now. Many countries around the world have already realized this, which is why nuclear power is flourishing in Europe and Asia. The good news is that thanks to the Energy Policy Act we passed in 2005, it is beginning to flourish here as well and we now have more than 30 nuclear power plants on the drawing board in the United States,” Domenici said.
The Energy Policy Act provided loan guarantee authority, production tax credits, and insurance protection against licensing delays and litigation for nuclear power projects. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission recently issued the first series of Early Site Permits for projects in the Department of Energy’s Nuclear Power 2010 program.
NP2010 is a joint government/industry cost sharing effort to identify sites for new nuclear plants, development and bring to market advanced nuclear plant technologies, and demonstrate untested regulatory processes.
If all the proposed nuclear power plants come online, an additional 38,000 megawatts of electricity will be generated by 2020—enough to power 28 million American households.
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