President Obama Pushing Nuclear Power

President Obama has been pushing hard for climate change reform, despite recent political losses for his party, inability to push through healthcare reform, and seeing all his federal nominations blocked. Unfortunately for him, it seems as if his climate change bill is destined for failure.

The President's thinking on the matter is fairly succinct, according to the New York Times.

"There is so much natural gas now that we've moved into the shale plays, the real challenge is, how do you use the available gas to meet near-term energy goals?" Obama said. "It takes the government to get out of the way and do the things it can do."

Besides the cap and trade aspect of Obama's energy reform vision, he is also trying to sell the public on nuclear power. The President has been touring the country trying to drum up support for his plan. He told a crowd in Maryland,

"Nuclear energy remains our largest source of fuel that procures no carbon emissions," he said. "We'll need to increase our supply of nuclear power. It's that simple."

Residents of Maryland hope that the government will open up its purse and subsidize the creation of a nuclear reactor at Calvert Cliffs, as he already did for a nuclear reactor in Burke, GA. The President awarded a conditional grant of $8.3 billion for Southern Co. to build a nuclear reactor in Burke.

But not everyone is for such a spending plan.. The Gaston Gazette has published an editorial denouncing the Obama plan to build nuclear in Georgia, saying,

Using loan guarantees to "jump-start" the building of more nuclear reactors, however, is a poor way to get the job done. It is argued that private investors have been reluctant to lend money for nuclear projects, in part because regulatory requirements are onerous, and it is true that it takes the Nuclear Regulatory Commission four years to issue a permit for a nuclear plant.

They go on to cite a Cato Institute analyst who claims that nuclear power plants too long to be completed. This line of thinking fails to capture exactly why the administration seems to be pushing nuclear power, though. If cost-effectiveness were the only criterion for what energy solutions were the best to pursue, then so-called green technology would never take off, which doesn't necessarily speak poorly about green-energy. All the money in the world won't be able to purchase a clean planet.

Argentina Expands Its Nuclear Power

The Wall Street Journal just released an article stating that Argentina will complete its third nuclear power plant by the end of 2010. The nation's Planning Minister, Julio De Vido, said that the plant is called Atucha II, and that it will be completed ahead of schedule. It was previously thought to finish construction by the first or second quarter of 2011.

Atucha II, along with the Argentine-Paraguayan Yacreta hydroelectric plant, will add more than 2,000 megawatts of power generation to the country, increasing its capacity by 10%. The plants will go far toward decreasing the blackouts, which have heavily plagued the country for the last three years when natural gas began suffering shortages.

Strangely, Atucha II was originally thought to go live back in 1987, but political and economic forces conspired to sideline the project for more than 20 years. The plant will be built next to Atucha I, which went live in 1974. Argentina's second nuclear plant, Embalse, commenced operations in 1984. All tolled, the three plants will generate more than 1700 megawatts of power. Nuclear power accounts for more than 6% of Argentina's overall power generation.