Some excellent news to report today; the United States will be implementing more nuclear energy facilities as stated by the US President, who I give full support to on this issue. (Link) This move will not only help the US lessen its dependence on the Middle East for oil, but will significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and other toxic air-bourne chemicals.

As it stands now, the US produces its electricity with the following fuels (Coal 50%, Nuclear 20%, Natural Gas 18%, Hydro 7%), where coal is very dirty; spewing lots of nasty chemicals into the air. France by comparison produces the vast majority (78% of power) through nuclear generation. Even though the US still produces more electricity with nuclear compared to France, the more reactors, the better. This power fuel conversion will help Canadians as well because ever since our premier has committed to shutting down Ontario's coal fired plants (including the notorious Nanticoke) we have had to replace this power with imports, mostly from US coal plants (*shakes head*). So it is nice to see the US putting in the infrastructure to help us keep our commitment to kyoto. (oh the irony!) [Actually if you consider the commitments that Canada and the US originally made to Kyoto, the US is actually closer to the Kyoto target than we are, food for thought.]

Besides the air-pollution and greenhouse gas emissions benefits there are also peripheral benefits such as off peak electricity potential. If the capacities of nuclear facilities in a given region are above off-peak consumption (usually the case, France has this situation), the additional electricity supply can be used to convert water to Hydrogen through electrolysis. Currently most hydrogen is produced with natural gas, creating greenhouse gases just as burning octane does in your car. This would allow companies like GM who have set a goal of producing a hydrogen fuel celled car by 2010 much more credibility. Without nuclear capacity, these hydrogen fuelled cars will be just as polluting if not more through coal electrolysis or natural gas reforming.

If any of you were able to see the speech given by Dr. Ballard (ex-Queen's grad), who is now heading a leader in hydrogen production (General Hydrogen), he was asked how hydrogen will be feasible for the mainstream. His comment: "Nuclear, Nuclear, Nuclear".

Welcome to our future, it looks bright indeed, and Bush has made a step in the right direction with this news. (especially considering not one plant has been created in 30 years) Nuclear energy is far safer than it once was, and I urge skeptics to do some research in this field before jumping to uninformed conclusions.

Also, for those who haven't noticed the link at the side of my Blog labelled: "A Thousand Reactors Bloom"; this is an amazing article for those following China's entry into the global economy as a production powerhouse.