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Nuclear Title May Not Be Enough to Push Senate Climate Bill Over the Top –

Nuclear Title May Not Be Enough to Push Senate Climate Bill Over the Top The New York Times By KATHERINE LING Reporters Allison Winter, Alex Kaplun and Darren Samuelsohn contributed. 17 July 09 While supporters of nuclear energy ardently proclaim the power source is necessary to combat climate change, incentives for nuclear power may not be the silver bullet sponsors need to pass climate legislation in the Senate this year…………………………………The energy committee bill has several perks for nuclear energy including a Clean Energy Development Administration, training programs for nuclear education, and exclusion of new nuclear generation or capacity upgrades through efficiency at existing nuclear plants from the power sales baseline used to measure the renewable electricity standard (RE………………..The House climate bill, H.R. 2454 (pdf), also contains a Clean Energy Development Administration — although it prevents any technology from using more than 30 percent of total available funds. It also includes the exclusion of new nuclear generation from the power sales baseline used to calculate the RES………………………………..The underlying question for sponsors: If nuclear incentives are not enough to get undecided senators on board with cap and trade, what is the point of including them at all?…………………..The nuclear issue dominated much of the debate at a hearing on Tuesday………………………”What we are hopeful for in any climate bill are those provisions. One, the recognition of nuclear as a clean energy source so if someone has nuclear in their portfolio they should be recognized for that and, two, recognition that to move forward we are going to have to private-public partnership of government and private enterprise,” said Derrick Freeman, senior director, of NEI’s legislative programs.

Nuclear Title May Not Be Enough to Push Senate Climate Bill Over the Top – NYTimes.com

July 20, 2009 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | climate change, politics, USA | antinuclear, nuclear, radioactive, uranium