Wilson says S.C. to lead nuclear energy renaissance

Second District Congressman Joe Wilson says the American Conservation and Clean Energy Independence Act he introduced in the U.S. House on May fifth along with fellow Republican Tim Murphy and Hawaii Democrat Neil Abercrombie, could be a tremendous boost for South Carolina especially in the nuclear energy field. Wilson says the measure encourages the expansion and development of nuclear power and South Carolina should stand as a leader of a nuclear power renaissance in this country.
“South Carolina has an extraordinary record of over 50 percent of the electrical generation in our state having been by nuclear power for over 30 years. It’s been safe. We know that with the advances in technology it will be safer. Additionally at the Savannah River Site I’m very grateful that we have hydrogen fuel research underway which can be very helpful.”
Wilson says he envisions the Savannah River Site as a center for research in the advancement of nuclear energy and other forms of alternative energy. The bill calls for loan guarantees for the production of commercial nuclear power plants.
The measure provides for the disposition, recycling and reprocessing of spent fuel from nuclear power plants, and the financing of long term safe storage of spent fuel. Wilson says spent nuclear fuel reprocessing and storage would lead to greater job creation in the state.
“That’s part of the bill we introduced last week; a bi-partisan bill, a Democrat and Republican bill, that promotes reprocessing, and of course a perfect site would be the Savannah River Site. It would be billions of dollars of investment in South Carolina with the creation of thousands of jobs.”