Print
Email
Share
Webb co-sponsors bill to boost nuclear, alternative energy
By: Ray Reed
November 17, 2009
Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., joined a leading Republican senator Monday in sponsoring a bill that, they said, would double nuclear-produced electrical power in 20 years and support other forms of clean energy with “mini-Manhattan projects.“
The cost could reach $20 billion in 10 years, Webb said, adding that the legislation was an alternative to the House-passed energy bill now before the Senate.
Webb said he couldn’t support the pending energy bill “in its current form.“
“This expansion of nuclear power is do-able, it is reasonable in scope and cost, and it will go a very long way toward our eventual goal of dramatically reducing carbon dioxide emissions,“ Webb said.
Webb co-sponsored the energy measure with Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., who made headlines on the nuclear front in July by announcing he had a blueprint for building 100 new nuclear power plants in 20 years. Alexander is chairman of the Senate Republican Conference.
Webb said he and Alexander were, “on a bipartisan basis,“ proposing legislation that could be passed while issues in the pending climate bill continue to be examined.
The bill would provide $100 billion in loan guarantees for companies proposing carbon-free energy projects, and that concept does not mean cash for the companies, Webb said.
“The basic projection is that it would be between 1 and 10 percent of the $100 billion that our taxpayers actually would be required to pay,“ depending on the companies’ success, Webb said.
Alexander said the legislation would “create the business and regulatory environment to double our country’s nuclear power production within 20 years and launch five mini-Manhattan projects to make advanced clean-energy technologies effective and cost-competitive.“
Those projects are intended to include $750 million per year for “clean-coal” projects involving carbon capture and storage technology. Also included would be biofuel-produced energy, advanced batteries for cars, solar power, and recycling of used nuclear fuel.
The Manhattan project referred to the U.S. atomic bomb research during World War II.