News & Events

Good morning. It is a great pleasure and a great privilege to be with you this morning to discuss what must be done to ensure that nuclear energy realizes its full potential and truly becomes a sustainable energy option.

The prospects for nuclear energy today are more promising than they have been for many, many years—since the energy crises of the 1970s, in fact.

In the United States, thanks partly to the investment stimulus provided by comprehensive energy legislation passed this year, we have nine companies, consortia or joint ventures moving forward with plans for 12 to15 new nuclear power plants. The first of these will start to enter service around 2015. I would not be surprised to see at least 20 new nuclear plants in service in the United States by 2020 or 2025, and another 30 under construction. And we see the same movement globally.

This renaissance is the product of two major forces.

In part, the renaissance is driven by brute economic imperatives: Rising fossil fuel prices ... increasing concerns about oil and natural gas supplies around the world ... growing foreboding  that spare oil production capacity around the world is at dangerously low levels (in fact, a new phrase, “peak oil” is creeping into our vernacular) ... mounting concerns about the environment and the emissions associated with burning of fossil fuels—both greenhouse gases and the more conventional pollutants. This business environment highlights the unique attributes of our nuclear power plants—the ability to produce large amounts of baseload electricity safely and reliably ... the price stability that protects consumers from the punishing price volatility we see with fossil fuels ... and, of course, the clean air value.