Word: nuclearism
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...many greens feel uneasy about a policy that diverts scarce federal energy funds toward a technology that still has unresolved environmental risks and that has struggled for years to attract private capital. "The Department of Energy is putting taxpayers on the hook for bailing out costly and dangerous nuclear-reactor projects when the loans used to finance those projects default," said Ben Schreiber, the climate- and energy-tax analyst for the Friends of the Earth, in a statement. "This is great news for Wall Street but a bad deal for Main Street...
...President Obama's signature ideals is the eventual elimination of nuclear weapons. He's spent diplomatic capital trying to negotiate a new nuclear-arms-control agreement with Russia, and in his Nobel Peace Prize speech in December, he called atomic-weapons control "the centerpiece of my foreign policy," asking all nuclear countries to work toward disarmament...
...when it comes to using nuclear power at home, Obama evidently feels a lot friendlier. Speaking at a job-training center in Lanham, Md., the President announced more than $8 billion in federal loan guarantees for the construction of the first nuclear power plants in the U.S. in more than 30 years. "To meet our growing energy needs and prevent the worst consequences of climate change, we'll need to increase our supply of nuclear power," said Obama. "It's that simple." (See pictures of the effects of global warming...
Obama's decision wasn't surprising - in his State of the Union speech, he dedicated prime space to hyping nuclear power - and on Tuesday, Feb. 16, he reiterated the need for a "new generation of safe, clean nuclear power plants in America." His proposed budget, released at the start of the month, would triple existing loan guarantees for new nuclear plants. While Obama has still done more to promote renewable energy than did any President before him, environmentalists are increasingly worried that greener sources like solar and wind are being downplayed in favor of nuclear, clean coal and biofuels...
...that may be the point: more-moderate Republicans like Lindsey Graham have made it clear that they believe that support for nuclear energy needs to be a part of America's new energy policy. By spending billions to back the nuclear industry, the White House may be able to get some Republican support for the floundering climate-and-energy bill, which would put a limit on greenhouse gases. "On an issue which affects our economy, our security and the future of our planet," said Obama in Maryland, "we cannot continue to be mired in the same old debates between left...