Washington (Platts)--1Oct2008

US Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman said Wednesday he was confident that
the US will rely more on nuclear energy in the future regardless of who wins
the country's elections in November.

"Whatever the future holds for the United States politically, I believe
that nuclear power will continue to play an increasingly large role in our
energy mix," Bodman said in remarks prepared for a Global Nuclear Energy
Partnership ministerial meeting in Paris.

Bodman said he and President George W. Bush remain convinced that the
program, which seeks safe expansion of civilian nuclear energy worldwide,
would help ensure that nuclear materials are held securely and that nuclear
power will help curb greenhouse gas emissions.

The secretary's appearance at the GNEP ministerial meeting was his last
before the Bush administration leaves office in January. Despite the
administration's hard push for the program, it has met strong resistance from
members of Congress who question the initiative's planning and cost.

Nuclear power represents a major difference between the two US
presidential candidates, Republican Senator John McCain and Democratic Senator
Barack Obama.

McCain has long been a vocal supporter of nuclear energy and one of his
campaign goals is to put in place a system with incentives for industry to
build 45 new nuclear power plants by 2030.

Obama, however, has offered only tepid support for new nuclear build. He
has said it is currently important as a zero-carbon energy source but has also
said that new plants should only move forward if problems of long-term waste
storage, proliferation and other key challenges are met.

McCain supports building the underground nuclear waste repository at
Yucca Mountain, Nevada. Obama opposes Yucca Mountain, citing environmental
concerns, and has said that dry cask storage on-site at nuclear power plants
should be considered in the interim.

Bodman cited developments in the US over the past year that he said
indicate a revival in nuclear energy's prospects in the country. Among them,
he noted that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has received 15 new
applications for combined operating licenses covering 24 nuclear reactors.

At the US Department of Energy, officials are accepting applications for
$20.5 billion in loan guarantees for new nuclear reactors, and NRC in
September agreed DOE's application to build a nuclear waste repository in
Nevada, he said.

GNEP itself has enrolled 25 countries as participants, with four
countries -- Armenia, Estonia, Morocco and Oman -- signing a statement of
principles at the meeting in Paris, he said.

--Bill Loveless, bill_loveless@platts.com