In a move that has provoked shock and outrage among liberal Democrats, the Obama administration is promising to push the construction of new nuclear power plants.
As a candidate, Obama had called for a continuation of the nation's 30 year moritorium on nuclear power plant construction until problems such as leakage, proliferation, and nuclear waste disposal could be solved. Obama's Democratic support base took this to mean that Obama would never permit an end to the ban on nuclear power plant construction.
Now Obama has reversed his stand. He now favors nuclear power. Although no resolution of nuclear's problems is in sight, the administration is moving ahead with plans to expand its use. The administration wants to guarantee loans for the construction of nuclear power plants. Nuclear power plants are considered too dangerous to cover by the nation's private insurance companies, nervous about another Chernobyl or Three Mile Island. The administration favors using US funds to guarantee otherwise un-insurable plants.
Greens have always opposed the use of coal and nuclear power, calling instead for expansion of environmentally benign renewable energy sources such as wind, solar, and geothermal energy.
