News & Events

Good morning. It is a pleasure to be back in Kyoto, and speaking to such a distinguished audience, drawn from all sectors of the international nuclear industry.

I want to talk to you today about the prospects for building new nuclear plants in the United States. Those prospects depend on two factors: the state of the nuclear industry and nuclear technology in the U.S., and the state of the U.S. energy and financial markets.

The U.S. nuclear industry is at one of its strongest periods in history. A confluence of events…excellent performance, support by the public and policymakers, growing awareness of environmental benefits and the need for new generating capacity….has greatly improved the future prospects for nuclear power in the U.S.

The state of the U.S. energy and financial markets is not as good. A patchwork of marketplace regulation for the electricity sector has led to distortions, including an overreliance on increasingly scarce, high-cost natural gas. Last month’s blackout of 50 million consumers is also at least in part attributable to changing regulations in the industry.

It reminds me of the age-old story from India about the six blind men who went to see the elephant. One put his hand on the elephant’s side, and said, the elephant is like a wall. The second felt the tusk, and said the elephant is like a spear. The third blind man grabbed the elephant’s trunk, and said the elephant is like a snake.

The fourth knelt down and encircled the elephant’s leg. In his opinion, the elephant was like a tree. The fifth touched the elephant’s ear and said the elephant is like a fan, and the last yanked the beast’s tail, and said the elephant is like a rope.