McCain calls for building 45 new nuclear reactors
Jun 18, 8:52 PM (ET)
By DAVID ESPO
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) - Sen. John McCain called Wednesday for the
construction of 45 new nuclear reactors by 2030 and pledged $2 billion a
year in federal funds "to make clean coal a reality," measures designed to
reduce dependence on foreign oil.
In a third straight day of campaigning devoted to the energy issue, the
Republican presidential nominee-in-waiting also said the only time
Democratic rival Barack Obama voted for a tax cut was for a "break for the
oil companies."
McCain said the 104 nuclear reactors currently operating around the
country
produce about 20 percent of the nation's annual electricity needs.
"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."
Even so, he said he would set the country on a course to build 45 new ones
by 2030, with a longer-term goal of adding another 55 in the future.
"We will need to recover all the knowledge and skills that have been lost
over three stagnant decades in a highly technical field," he conceded.
Later, at a news conference, McCain said he favors steps to reduce the
time
plant owners need to obtain the necessary permits. He suggested U.S.
companies use common technology to shave the time in takes to bring a new
nuclear facility on line. He also said a decision by President Carter
three
decades ago not to pursue fuel reprocessing technology should be reversed.
In an appearance before an audience at Missouri State University, McCain
also said, "We will need to solve complex problems of moving and storing
materials that will always need safeguarding."
Shortly after he spoke, a participant in a campaign-organized round-table
discussion of energy, retired Marine Corps Gen. James Jones, said
obtaining
the necessary construction permits can take five years. "We should be able
to cut that in half," added Jones, a former NATO commander who is now
chief
executive officer of the U.S. Chamber Institute for 21st Century Energy.
He
also is on the board of Chevron.
Jones flew to Missouri aboard the campaign's chartered jet although,
ironically, Democrats recently disclosed that his name has figured in
Obama
campaign discussions of potential Democratic vice presidential running
mates.
McCain's motorcade drove by a few dozen sign-carrying demonstrators
protesting the Iraq War. One audience member interrupted his remarks by
standing and shouting that the Arizona senator had taken millions from the
oil industry.
A dramatic spike in worldwide oil prices has pushed the cost of gasoline
to
$4 a gallon and more, and made energy a domestic political issue in a way
it
has not been since the days of the Arab oil embargo of the 1970s.
On Tuesday, McCain delivered a speech in Texas in which he made the case
for
a nationwide effort to reduce dependence on foreign oil, including
additional drilling in U.S. coastal waters, and said he would begin laying
out specific proposals in the coming days.
With his appearance in Missouri, he began making good on that promise.
The Republican presidential contender said Missouri gets about 85 percent
of
its electricity from coal, an abundant natural resource in the U.S.
"Perhaps no advancement in energy technology could mean more to America
than
the clean burning of coal and the capture and storage of carbon
emissions,"
he said.
With the $2 billion in federal funds, he said, "We will build the
demonstration plants, refine the techniques and equipment, and make clean
coal a reality. This single achievement will open vast amounts of our
oldest
and most abundant resource. And it will deliver not only electricity but
jobs to some of the areas hardest hit by our economic troubles."
It was the second straight day McCain has criticized Obama, the Illinois
senator who will collect the Democratic presidential nomination this
summer,
a few days before McCain lays claim to the GOP nomination.
Obama has said McCain's sup****t for additional offshore oil drilling is
evidence that he would effectively give the country another term of the
Bush
presidency.
"I guess the senator has changed his position since voting for the 2005
Bush
energy bill - a grab-bag of cor****ate handouts that I opposed," McCain
said.
"Come to think of it, that energy bill was the only time we've ever seen
Senator Obama vote in favor of any tax break - and it was a tax break for
the oil companies."
McCain opposed the 2005 measure and said at the time it was larded with
billions in unnecessary tax breaks for the oil industry.
--
"Impeachment is off the table" Nancy Pelosi
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