McCain - Build More Nuke Plants
McCain - Build More Nuke Plants
Submitted by politicalWinters on Thu, 06/19/2008 - 9:51am.
Specifically, John McCain is calling for the construction of 45 new nuclear plants by 2030 and spending $2 billion annually for "clean coal."
The Republican presidential nominee has spent the week outlining his energy plan. Earlier, he called for lifting the ban on offshore drilling.
Quote: "Every year, these reactors alone spare the atmosphere from the equivalent of nearly all auto emissions in America. Yet for all these benefits, we have not broken ground on a single nuclear plant in over thirty years," he said. "And our manufacturing base to even construct these plants is almost gone."
New reactors
Energy experts say that the guts of any new reactors in the United States will have to be built overseas -- most likely Japan -- and shipped here because, as McCain says, there is no company left here who makes them. But since there is demand in other countries, like France and Japan, for the knowhow, the nuclear manufacturing industry has left U.S. shores to be closer to their customers.
Walter Jones is the director of Morris News Service and has been covering politics since 1998.