Bush to discuss nuclear energy in State of Union

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President George W. Bush is expected
to talk anew about how nuclear energy can reduce U.S. oil
dependence when he delivers his State of the Union address next
week, White House officials said on Friday.

Bush has long held the view that the country should resume
construction of nuclear reactors as a source of power in order
to reduce dependence on oil, whose price has been soaring.

White House spokesman Scott McClellan would not
specifically say if Bush would promote nuclear energy in his
big speech on Tuesday night, but other officials hinted that he
was expected to do so.

“We’ve been talking with a number of countries about how to
move forward on expanding nuclear energy to meet our global
energy needs,” McClellan told reporters.

“It’s an energy source that is clean, it helps us address
economic and — it helps us address our energy and national
security need,” he said. “The president is very focused on this
matter and has talked about it previously.”

At a White House briefing, McClellan was asked whether Bush
would discuss nuclear energy in the speech. He began his answer
by saying “yes,” but the White House later said he was talking
about energy in general.

Reports in the Washington Post and Wall Street Journal have
said the Bush administration is considering proposals to expand
civilian nuclear energy and is looking at initiatives to
reprocess spent nuclear fuel.