Obama Pledges $8B to Build Nuclear Plant

President Obama today pledged to guarantee $8 billion in loans to build a new nuclear power plant in the US—the first in 30 years—as part of his clean energy agenda. To make green power a reality, the president told a gathering of union electrical workers, “we’ll have to build a new generation of safe, clean nuclear power plants” in addition to investments in renewables such as solar and wind power.

The $8 billion pledge to help secure financing is just the first step in a process that could take several years, the Los Angeles Times reports. “There will be those who welcome this announcement, and those who strongly disagree with it,” said Obama. But “on an issue which affects our economy, our security and the future of our planet, we cannot continue to be mired in the same old debates between left and right, between environmentalists and entrepreneurs.” (More President Obama stories.)