I appreciate the chance to speak with all of you about some very important initiatives at my Department that will affect the nuclear power industry and America's energy security.

With us here today are leaders in government, industry, and research, representing countries all over the world. It's an honor to be here.

When the President unveiled our National Energy Plan last May, he spoke of the need to establish an energy policy that was balanced, comprehensive, and far-sighted. As a part of this policy, he said we must consider an expanded role for nuclear energy in the United States.

I spoke to the President this week on a variety of issues and I can tell you he remains totally committed to his Energy Plan and to the role nuclear power can play in our energy future.

I think we owe him a great deal of thanks. His leadership has been essential to help clear away the old thinking about nuclear energy. That old thinking represents a view of nuclear energy frozen in time since 1979, when the public image of nuclear power was dominated by Three Mile Island. This old view condemns nuclear power as too expensive, too risky, and too unreliable.

But, more recent history points to a brighter, more promising view.

Nuclear power has made an amazing comeback in this country. Just ten years ago a nuclear plant was lucky to run at 70 percent capacity. Today, the average plant runs at 90 percent capacity. This increased capacity translates into an additional 23,000 megawatts of power on the grid ... the same as building 23 new plants.

These improvements are no accident. Over the last decade, utilities found that the most efficient, cost-effective plants were also the best managed. For example, in the early 1990's it was not unusual for a utility to shut a nuclear plant down for more than three months to perform refueling operations. It was clear that unless utilities improved this performance, nuclear power could never be competitive in the marketplace.

Today, we see the result of industry's efforts. Instead of several months, utilities are now completing their refueling work in as little as three weeks. The benefits of this experience are being spread across the industry.

Utilities are engaged in a vigorous secondary market for nuclear power plants. The best utilities are buying nuclear generating assets from other utilities and creating large systems of plants that leverage the best know-how and economies of scale.

I think these developments will shape the future of nuclear power like nothing that has come before. We have seen the best nuclear utilities take over nuclear plants and apply their successful management practices to their new acquisitions.

For example, the utilities with the management and staff able to complete a refueling outage in three weeks can use this experience to improve the performance at more and more plants, to the overall benefit of the industry.

Good management practices have also improved safety performance. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission counted over 200 "unusual events" each year at U.S. plants in the late 1980s. These days, the Commission counts fewer than 20 - a ninety percent reduction in little more than a decade.

While people are learning that nuclear power generates about a fifth of all U.S. electricity, I think many people would be surprised to know that nuclear-generated electricity is also among the cheapest available. Most U.S. nuclear plants are producing electric power at less than two cents per kilowatt-hour and the best plants generate electricity for only about one cent per kilowatt-hour.

I think many people also would be surprised to learn how much nuclear power contributes to cleaner air in this country. Nuclear power plants in the eastern United States make it possible for many states to meet the requirements of the Clean Air Act.

Since the mid-1970s, nuclear energy enabled the United States to avoid emitting over 80 million tons of sulfur dioxide and about 40 million tons of nitrogen oxides.

We must also recognize the benefits nuclear power brings to the issue of climate change. As you know, the President announced a major new initiative today to reduce carbon emissions.

It is my hope that as we work to meet the President's objectives, more and more people will appreciate the strong link between an expanded role for nuclear power and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. It is possible that greater understanding of this link will help forge a new coalition in support of nuclear energy here in the United States and around the world.

Industry has been quick to build upon these successes. Last year, I visited Constellation Energy's Calvert Cliffs plant, which was the first plant in the U.S. to receive a renewed license from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Six other reactor facilities have received new 20-year licenses since that time and we expect that virtually all U.S. plants will follow in the next few years.

And yet, despite the increased willingness to pursue relicensing, there are still no new nuclear plants being built in the United States. There are many reasons for this. Over the last two decades, it was clear that the Nation simply did not need the large additions in capacity that nuclear plants offer. Very few large power plants of any kind were being built and there certainly was no interest in building big, capital-intensive nuclear units.

Obviously, lingering public concerns about the safety of nuclear power plants is an ongoing challenge for the nuclear industry. I think the industry has accomplished the most important work to assure the public - it has operated its plants safely, efficiently, and professionally and earned the trust and respect of an increasing proportion of the public. Recent polls indicate that 65% of the public believes in the use of nuclear power.

I think that people who live near nuclear power plants - and thus know more about them - are even more confident about the safety and benefits of nuclear power. This gives a tremendous boost to the industry.

However, this positive outlook must be tempered by the realities of life since September 11. Safety at our plants is, of course, a legitimate concern and we pay careful attention to all aspects of safety and security. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission and its counterparts around the world, including the International Atomic Energy Agency, are working hard to address these challenges.

But we can be alert to the dangers without caving into fear. We must not let terrorists dictate our future energy choices. It is essential that government and industry work together to make sure that we are taking all necessary actions to protect our existing nuclear plants and applying the best minds in this country to make future nuclear plants even less vulnerable to attack.

Even beyond these important concerns, there are significant barriers that make it difficult for a utility to make the business decision to order a new nuclear power plant -- barriers that increase financial risk and create uncertainty. I intend to work with industry to help bring down these barriers and so pave the way for an industry decision to build safe, new plants.

First, we need to extend the Price Anderson Act. I believe that this legislation represents an essential promise made by the Government in the early days of commercial nuclear power that must be kept in the present. But it is important that we make clear that this promise is to the public…we will ensure that any victim of an accident is compensated.

Only in such an environment can we expect investors to make decisions to risk the capital necessary for an expansion of nuclear power. We must reauthorize Price Anderson if we are to maintain an environment in which industry can seriously consider a future for nuclear power, and we must do it this year.

Second, we need to answer questions about the disposal of nuclear waste. As most of you know, last month, I notified Governor Guinn of Nevada that I would recommend the Yucca Mountain site to the President as a scientifically sound and suitable location for development of the Nation's long-term geological repository for nuclear waste.

A permanent geologic repository will achieve several goals. It will promote our energy security by removing a roadblock to expanding nuclear power. It will promote our national and homeland security by safely locking away forever, dangerous nuclear waste. And it will help us clean up our environment.

But there are other barriers we must also clear away. First, where are we going to build new plants? Second, how do we know we can get them licensed in this country? And finally, are advanced technologies really an option in the U.S.?

Answering these questions and removing the uncertainties they represent can best be addressed by a new public-private partnership between my Department and the Nation's electric utility industry.

We have set an ambitious target for this important work: it is our goal to remove these barriers in time to enable a new U.S. nuclear power plant to be built and brought on-line by the end of this decade. Thus, I am pleased to announce today a new program initiative, which we call Nuclear Power 2010.

Under this new initiative, the government and the private sector will work together to explore sites that could host new nuclear plants … to demonstrate the efficiency and timeliness of key Nuclear Regulatory Commission processes designed to make licensing of new plants more efficient, effective, and predictable … and to conduct research needed to make the safest and most advanced nuclear plant technologies available in the United States.

The first of these elements - exploring locations for new nuclear power plants - is a critical step toward ensuring that nuclear power continues to play an important role in our energy mix.

So, our Nuclear Power 2010 initiative will cooperate with industry to explore a range of potential sites before any decision is actually made to build a plant. We will support the process to receive Nuclear Regulatory Commission Early Site Permit approval for several sites and thereby know at the outset where industry can build the next plants.

To get this work started now, I am very happy to announce cooperative projects with two U.S. nuclear utilities - Exelon and Dominion Resources - to conduct Ascoping" studies analyzing both private and Federal sites as potential locations of new nuclear power plants.

These studies will exercise the NRC process for evaluating sites owned by the utilities and sites on DOE reservations at the Savannah River Site, the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory, and the Portsmouth site in Ohio.

While there is no guarantee that any of the sites proposed for examination by industry will eventually host future nuclear power plants, I believe that each of these sites has the right physical characteristics, experienced workforces, and supportive local communities to make a nuclear plant project a success.

These studies are just the first step. Before the end of the month, we will issue an offer to all the Nation's utilities to share the cost of selecting sites in this country and actually demonstrating the NRC's evaluation process.

Identifying and obtaining NRC permits for acceptable sites will answer the question of where we will build new plants and thereby remove a major hurdle to building a new U.S. nuclear plant by 2010.

And let me pause for a moment to recognize that this initiative would not have been possible without the support provided by Senator Pete Domenici.

It was through his leadership that our nuclear energy program was provided the resources this fiscal year to begin this important work. He has been a long-time proponent of the vision that nuclear power could play an expanded role in our energy mix and I am very pleased to be the first Secretary of Energy in many, many years to join him in making this vision a reality.

Similarly, Senators Larry Craig, Mike Crapo, and Strom Thurmond have been vital supporters of our nuclear energy program and leaders in proposing new, creative roles for our national laboratories and sites in advancing the potential of nuclear power. We thank these leaders and many of their colleagues for their support and guidance.

Congress will have a chance to show its support again this year as it considers our FY 2003 budget request. The Administration has proposed $38.5 million be applied to the Nuclear Power 2010 initiative in the next fiscal year. Once Congress approves that budget, we will begin to answer the question of whether we can license new plants in the U.S.

In addition to helping find sites to locate new plants, my Department will offer to share the cost of demonstrating the new regulatory process that enables utilities to obtain combined construction/operating licenses. Proving that this Aone-step" licensing process works will remove a major risk in investing in new nuclear power plants. Utilities have informed us that demonstrating this new process is an absolute prerequisite to building new plants in this country.

It is our intent to establish a competitive process that will encourage utilities to coalesce around the most promising nuclear plant technologies. We believe that one or two nuclear plant designs are already close to meeting the economic requirements of the market and we will consider supporting the certification of these designs and their application in the "one-step" licensing process.

Finally, regarding the question of whether advanced technology can be brought to the U.S. market, we will work with both industry and our international partners to conduct the research needed to assure that advanced gas reactor technology - such as the Pebble Bed Modular Reactor and the Gas Turbine Modular Helium Reactor - can be considered as real options in the U.S. We are already beginning this important research through a joint program at the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

We are excited by the potential of these new technologies because their modular construction holds the promise of very low cost and they have inherent safety features that could change the way people think about nuclear power.

Imagine building nuclear power plants with fuel that can't melt in an accident or plants that are so safe that they may not need traditional containment buildings to protect against the accidental release of radioactive material. I believe that the development of these technologies would be compelling to the public, to utilities, and to investors.

But more work needs to be completed if these new technologies are to be deployed in the United States. Fortunately, we are already working with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and industry to pave the way for these novel technologies.

What's more, using mechanisms such as the Generation IV International Forum, we will be able to establish strong international cooperation to leverage U.S. funding. We hope to work with countries such as South Africa and France to demonstrate these technologies and make them available to the market late in this decade.

Another reason we are excited by these technologies is that they are capable of generating the very, very high temperatures required to drive the thermochemical processes needed to generate large quantities of hydrogen.

I believe hydrogen has tremendous potential as a transportation fuel in the future. The ability of these advanced nuclear technologies to generate clean electricity by day and clean hydrogen by night may prove to be the key to nuclear power's success.

We are already conducting advanced studies at our Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois and Sandia National Laboratory in New Mexico to explore this exciting technology and expect to do more in the coming year.

While ambitious, our 2010 goal is well within reach. A recent report from the Nuclear Energy Research Advisory Committee agrees. The Committee noted that if we complete the work I have discussed today, there are several advanced nuclear power plant technologies that could be put into operation by the end of the decade.

Conclusion
We cannot ignore either the benefits or the significant challenges posed by nuclear power. I believe that the U.S. Government has a clear role to help remove the barriers to an expanded role for nuclear power in this country.

We are working with the best experts in the world to develop a technology roadmap for Generation IV nuclear systems. We are intensifying our efforts to maintain a healthy nuclear technology education system in the United States. Now we are taking the actions necessary to make deployment of new, safe, economic nuclear power plants in this country during this decade a possibility.

The Nuclear Power 2010 initiative represents a major challenge for all of us. But government and industry working together can accomplish great things.

Together we can establish a clear vision of the future and carry out the work needed to realize that vision. We are excited by this initiative and look forward to working with all of you to realize the goal of building a new nuclear power plant in this country by 2010.