Good afternoon. I'm pleased to have this opportunity to participate in a panel discussion on energy and the environment.

Before the United Nations climate conference in Kyoto in 1997, few governments acknowledged nuclear energy's role in mitigating greenhouse gas emissions.

Now, policymakers all over the world are starting to recognize this fact.

• In Washington early last year, Under Secretary of State Stuart Eizenstadt told a Senate committee that "nuclear energy has a very real role to play" in addressing the climate change issue.
• The World Energy Council went a step further. At the World Energy Congress in Houston last September, the council said nuclear energy "should play a major role" in electricity generation and in strategies to combat global warming.
• Some of the strongest words we've heard came from Senator Pete Domenici. In a November speech, he said "maintaining and even expanding our reliance on nuclear energy will be essential to maintain progress in clean air."

Nuclear energy has played an important role in helping to avoid air pollution for more than 30 years. That's because generating electricity with nuclear energy is essentially emission free.

Some of you may remember the oil embargoes and natural gas supply and price problems of the 1970s.

Electric utilities responded by reducing dependence on oil-fired power and increasing reliance on coal and nuclear energy.

In the decade that followed, more than 40 nuclear power plants began operating-tripling the amount of electricity Americans received from nuclear energy.

Today, more than 100 nuclear units supply approximately 20 percent of our nation's electricity.

The post-embargo era also saw the development of ambitious legislative and regulatory efforts to improve the quality of the nation's air.

Much of the burden fell on the electric generation industry.

Between 1973 and 1997, nuclear generation helped meet electricity demand—while avoiding the emission of 81.5 million tons of sulfur dioxide … and more than 37 million tons of nitrogen oxides.

In 1997 alone, emissions of sulfur dioxide would have been about three million tons higher … and emissions of nitrogen oxides would have been 2.1 million tons higher … if utilities had built fossil-fueled plants instead of nuclear plants.

So nuclear generation has served as a silent partner in Clean Air Act compliance—by avoiding additional emissions as electricity output grew.

The need for nuclear energy is greater than ever.

Most nuclear power plants are located in areas that are densely populated and have a high concentration of activities that generate air pollution.

Many of these same areas are in "non-attainment" with the Clean Air Act for ozone or other regulated pollutants—even though a large portion of their electricity comes from nuclear plants.

These areas face revised standards that will impose even tougher restrictions.

U.S. clean air regulations do not recognize the significant role of emission-free generation in clean air compliance.

We call this the "hidden value" of nuclear power. Under current regulations, that value remains hidden as long as a given plant continues to operate.

If the plant closes down, that "hidden value" quickly becomes obvious … because nuclear generation must be replaced with something else—typically fossil generation.

And fossil generation has clean air compliance costs associated with it.

We need to think of emission-free generation as a compliance tool for controlled pollutants, reducing overall compliance costs.

This hidden value must be recognized … and monetized … and credited to the nuclear units. Several members of Congress are exploring this concept.

But the benefits to the environment from using nuclear energy are not limited to clean air.

Because the fission process uses highly concentrated, mobile fuel, nuclear power facilities require only small footprints and can be co-located with electricity consumers.

This means that large land areas, green fields or species habitats are not adversely affected, avoiding urban sprawl and species impairment.

And the solid waste from nuclear facilities has always been stored and monitored safely, with no adverse impacts to human health or the environment.

Nuclear energy is essential for the United States and other nations to meet the goals of continued development and protection of the environment. Policymakers around the world are beginning to recognize that.

Thank you.