From the NEI Clip File

Here are some of the news clips we're reading at NEI today. During an interview with the Chicago Tribune, Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman stressed the importance of federal support for nuclear energy, as well as calling for a diverse energy portfolio to enhance American energy security:

Bodman said the administration is working with conferees "to include federal insurance to protect new reactor projects from economic harm resulting from regulatory and legal delays."

He said he is optimistic that the conferees will include this new insurance plan. He said nuclear power executives considering new plants are less influenced by subsidies than they are by delays that can raise the cost of projects. Federal insurance "gives them a sense of comfort" to go ahead, he said.

In his prepared remarks, Bodman said the U.S. must make basic changes in its energy policy, starting with building more energy infrastructure, such as new electrical transmission facilities, oil refineries and liquefied natural gas terminals. Nuclear plants, clean-coal technology, hydrogen-powered vehicles, energy-efficient buildings and renewable fuels are all critical parts of a new energy policy, he said.

New Brunswick Power spokesman Pamela McKay supported the use of nuclear energy to supplement their wind power operations at a meeting of wind power executives, insisting that wind power is intermittent and unreliable to handle the base load energy need on its own:

"Nuclear plants are base-load facilities that provide relatively constant sources of energy," Ms. McKay said. "Wind energy production is variable and is contingent on whether the wind is blowing. It cannot be turned on at will or be available for dispatch on demand."

Ms. McKay said wind power requires other generation facilities to be available to increase or decrease production very quickly to meet the demand for electricity, depending on the fluctuations in wind and the resulting wind energy being produced.

There's more news on U.S. energy dealings with India. Experts claim that the nuclear energy assistance being given to India will make great impact on its economy, as reported by the Gulf Times.

The US administration's decision to reopen civilian nuclear sales to India will go a long way towards solving the critical energy needs of one of Asia's fastest growing economies, experts said yesterday.

"The race in Asia is that of energy," said Rahul Bedi of Jane's Defence Weekly.

"China is far ahead of us. If we can get (nuclear energy) and if we can pay for it, it will be good for the economy."

Also on the international front, Red Nova reports that Ukraine is planning on building more nuclear power plants:

The Ukrainian Cabinet at its Wednesday session approved preparations for the construction of two new power units at Khmelnitsky nuclear power station, Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko has said.

"We will be building so that nuclear power engineering would become a reliable factor of supplying the nation with electricity," she told a news conference after the Cabinet session.

Come back tomorrow for more news from the NEI Clip File.

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