BUSH PRESSES FOR NUCLEAR RECYCLING

Abstract

IN A BREAK WITH DECADES OF U.S. POLICY, the Bush Administration is asking Congress to provide start-up funding for an ambitious policy initiative that is designed to expand nuclear power generation worldwide while keeping atomic technologies and materials out of the hands of terrorists. The program, called the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP), has the potential to change the world, Department of Energy Secretary Samuel W. Bodman declared last month at the venture's unveiling. GNEP brings the promise of virtually limitless energy to emerging economies around the globe in an environmentally friendly manner while reducing the threat of nuclear proliferation. Bodman noted that the Energy Information Administration recently estimated that global demand for energy may increase by as much as 50% by 2025, with more than half of that growth coming from the world's developing economies. Nuclear power, he said, is an abundant, safe, reliable, and emissions-free way to help meet this growing demand for ...