Obama announced $8.3 billion in loan guarantees to build another nuclear plant. It’s the first nuclear plant built in the U.S. in over 30 years. It’s part of his new plan to bring “clean” energy to the U.S. You want to hear a rant about Obama’s plans for a clean energy economy, read my take on Obama’s State of the Union Speech. The point is, to me, that nuclear power is not green. Is it cleaner? Yes. Is it clean? No. Just like Clean Coal, it’s a spin on the truth. What more could we expect from politicians who say they want to be innovative but aren’t really going to innovate?

And not to be, well, yes, to be cynical- how much can we expect this to be a smokescreen for increase coal and natural gas development? How many billions will go into offshore drilling while the White House puts out press releases about our nuclear “clean” energy future?

I’m upset about Obama’s approach here. I understand that part of it is to get Republican support for the climate change-focused bill in the senate, but he’s compromising too much. Supporting anything that has already been done and overdone in the world of energy is going too far. You can have health care if I can have billions of dollars for solar and wind research. You think we need to build a clean energy future? Let’s do it with something that doesn’t create toxic waste. Why don’t we just rename the title: Obama guarantees billions of dollars worth of toxic waste?

The government loans will go to Southern Co to build two reactors at a plant in the state of Georgia at an estimated cost of $8.8 billion for completion in 2016 or 2017, according to Reuters.

"Even though we've not broken ground on a ... new nuclear power plant in 30 years, nuclear energy remains our largest source of fuel that produces no carbon emissions," said Obama.

"To meet our growing energy needs and prevent the worst consequences of climate change, we'll need to increase our supply of nuclear power. It's that simple."

No, Obama, it’s not that simple at all. You are forgetting A) nuclear power still creates toxic waste and B) every dollar that goes toward it is a dollar that doesn’t go toward real clean energy.

The fact that you are over-compromising just to pass a cap and trade to try and raise money to develop solar and wind technologies is depressing. Why not guarantee $8.8 billion to solar and wind research and development? You’d get a serious amount of advancement and energy by 2016. You’re going to be out of office by then no matter what, anyway? You’re essentially passing the buck here. I’m upset.

"We're not going to achieve a big boost in nuclear capacity unless we also create a system of incentives to make clean energy profitable. As long as producing carbon pollution carries no cost, traditional plants that use fossil fuels will be more cost-effective than plants that use nuclear fuel," said Obama.

Do something drastic. Don’t compromise with Republicans on clean energy. Until they recognize the triple-bottom line, they don’t get it.

Photo Credit: Bigod (via Flickr under CCL)