After reviewing data regarding nuclear energy and its efficiency, Obama has declared that, “…To meet our growing energy needs and prevent the worst consequences of climate change, we’ll need to increase our supply of nuclear power." On February 16th, 2010, President Obama went forth with this goal by approving an $8.3 billion dollar loan that will go to the construction of two nuclear reactors in Burke County, Georgia.

Georgia Senator Saxby Chambliss supported the loan, claiming, “The power generated by [the Burke County facility] is safe, reliable, emissions-free and environmentally responsible.”

Officials within the Obama energy administration claim that the project to construct the nuclear reactors will not only produce 3,500 construction jobs, but 850 permanent working positions at the plant. The reactor will also produce power for roughly 550,000 homes, containing about 1.4 million people.

Although the Obama administration has hailed the loan as a step forward, many feel that the addition of two nuclear reactors is only hurting the country.

On one side, it is true that almost all of the nations' nuclear reactors have been constructed roughly 25-30 years ago. This is one reason why Obama promotes this project; because there is newer and more energy efficient technology that can be applied to these reactors. The reactors will also theoretically reduce the need for carbon based fuel, which has been theorized as a main contributor to climate change.

The other side of the debate however, feels that there are other ways to solve an energy/job crisis. Nuclear waste, although famous for its minimal air pollution, is infamous for the radioactive waste that is produced. Uranium, the primary element used in nuclear reactors, is highly radioactive after placed in a reactor. Not only that, but the radiation emitted from the spent fuel will continue to radiate for thousands of years. To combat this, the Bush administration promoted the use of Yucca Mountain, a remote and barren desert mountain, to store the countries spent fuel rods. Stephen Smith of the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy claims that the contraction of the two new reactors is a bad idea because since Obama shut down the Yucca storage facility, the country needs to now worry about another bunch of irradiated fuel cells that have to be stored on site. With over 70,000 tons of radioactive fuel rods stored in about 100 locations in the country, adding more reactors would only create more radioactive waste which now sits at about 2,000 tons per year.

In order to sate the rage of skeptics, energy Secretary Steven Chu said that nuclear reactors built thirty years ago, such as the infamous Three Mile Island reactor in Pennsylvania, are much safer because of over 30 years of research and development on how to maintain a cleaner, and more efficient nuclear power plant. Not only that, but Chu asserts the fact that this reactor is the first modern reactor guaranteed a federal loan, which limits the projects risk of shutting down. Within the next few years, the administration also hopes to create over half a dozen additional plants to the two in Burke County.

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