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Bush to discuss nuclear energy in State of Union

Posted on: Friday, 27 January 2006, 13:00 CST

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.

Source: REUTERS

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