Posted on 05/02/2005 5:08:53 AM PDT by Brilliant
WASHINGTON -- Samuel W. Bodman, the new energy secretary, is launching an initiative to improve America's technological competitiveness, beginning with a campaign to sell U.S. nuclear power and clean-coal technologies abroad so other countries can diversify their energy resources.
Mr. Bodman said in an interview that he will promote U.S. technology during talks with energy ministers at this week's meeting of members of the International Energy Agency in Paris...
The International Energy Agency, whose members meet every two years, was formed in 1974 by industrial nations to deal with the effects of the Arab oil embargo. This year, energy ministers from China, India and other developing nations have been invited because their energy demands have outstripped those of many industrial countries.
Mr. Bodman said he wants more countries to consider nuclear power as an alternative to fossil fuels, which pose pollution and global-warming problems.
"One of our great concerns is the unbridled expansion and use of coal in China and India," said Mr. Bodman, who said he hopes to encourage officials of both countries to diversify their energy sources. More fuel diversification, he said, would help ease demands for oil and other fuels, and would make their economies less vulnerable to price spikes or sudden shortages.
"We believe that energy is a global, not just a domestic problem," he said, noting that investments must be made now to bring on new energy resources within the next decade. The international agency estimates that a lack of investment has helped produce tightness in world energy markets and that nations will have to invest $16 trillion to meet energy demands by 2030...
This looks like a good way to work out the bugs in the AP600 and AP1000 before we build a few of them here.
Has been reported
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