President Bush and Energy Week

President Bush is on a week long effort to promote his Advanced Energy Initiative, and he kicked it off Saturday on his weekly radio address with a strong endorsement of nuclear energy:

This morning, I want to speak to you about one part of this initiative: our plans to expand the use of safe and clean nuclear power. Nuclear power generates large amounts of low-cost electricity without emitting air pollution or greenhouse gases. Yet nuclear power now produces only about 20 percent of America's electricity. It has the potential to play an even greater role. For example, over the past three decades, France has built 58 nuclear power plants and now gets more than 78 percent of its electricity from nuclear power. Yet here in America, we have not ordered a new nuclear power plant since the 1970s. So last summer I signed energy legislation that offered incentives to encourage the building of new nuclear plants in America. Our goal is to start the construction of new nuclear power plants by the end of this decade.

To listen to the audio of the address, click here.

For a couple of endorsements, click here and here.

More later.

UPDATE: More from Green Car Congress, California Yankee and Not-A-Pundit. And for more from the President from the road, click here.

Technorati tags: Nuclear Energy, Nuclear Power, Electricity, Environment