President Tours Power Plant in Alabama

The White House said Thursday that President Bush was in Alabama touring the Brown's Ferry Nuclear Power Plant. He was there to discuss his policy on energy and express the importance of expanding nuclear power.

Brown's Ferry has the honor of being the first nuclear reactor, in the 21st century, to come online. The plant had been shut down in 1985. The Washington Fact Sheet reported that the decision to reopen the plant in 2002 was a success because it did so on time and within budget. According to the Washington, this plant is capable of supplying approximately 650,000 homes.

This report states that in 1985 we imported about 27% of our oil. That figure has more than doubled to 60% in today's market. The Bush administration said that this dependency that the nation has on imported oil "creates national security, economic, and environmental risks."

President Bush has proposed a "Twenty in Ten" plan. The goal is to cut U.S. dependency on gasoline by 20% within the next 10 years.

The Washington Fact Sheet reports that to reach this goal there are three measures that need to be taken.

1) Setting a Standard for Alternative Fuels. Bush is proposing a standard that is more aggressive than the Senate energy bill by nearly 5 times. I quote, "...the equivalent of 35 billion gallons of renewable and other alternative fuels by 2017..."

2) Bringing CAFE standards up to date. CAFE is the fuel efficiency guideline standard that vehicles are subject to. The Bush Administration has increased these standards twice for light trucks. Now they are proposing it encompass all passenger vehicles. The claim is that the proposal set forth by Bush could save 8.5 billion gallons of gas in the next 10 years.

3) Double the Strategic Petroleum Reserve Capacity. This would protect "our national and economic security" due to any interruption of our imported oil supplies.

According to this report, the Senate energy bill does nothing to domestic oil supplies that fuel our homes and businesses. The proposal the Bush Administration is submitting would allow drilling in the Outer Continental Shelf and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The claim is that it would "increase supply and better protect America from fluctuations in oil and natural gas prices."

Washington reports that the "Federal Government is helping to expand the safe use of nuclear power."

The fact sheet reports that experts are saying to maintain the 20% share that nuclear power plants add to our electric supply, the U.S. will need to build approximately 3 plants a year. This would have to start in 2015. Because of "red tape" issues, none have been built since the 1970's.

As of this fact sheet release, there are 20 entities who have plans on filing license applications with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, for the building of 30 new reactors.

Source: The White House, Fact Sheet; Expanding the Safe Use of Nuclear Power