by Jarret Adams

As the House considers the American Clean Energy and Security Act, we want to point out that AREVA supports legislation that will encourage more investment in new sources of clean energy. As the world leader in CO2-free power generation, we would like to see greater interest in sources of electricity that do not produce greenhouse gases.

We are delighted to join with many of our partners and competitors in our support for this legislation, including Constellation, Duke Energy, Exelon, FPL Group, PG&E Corp., PSE+G and GE. In fact, Constellation issued a press release yesterday calling for passage of the measure.

Approaches that would help us reduce our nation’s greenhouse gas emissions are critical to addressing climate change. It is also important to recall how important nuclear energy is helping prevent CO2 emissions. America’s 104 nuclear power plants represent nearly 75 percent of our CO2-free generation. Each year, these plants avoid the production of some 700 million metric tons of CO2.

Today U.S. nuclear plants only produce 20 percent of our electricity. Even a small increase in nuclear generation could have a significant impact on CO2 emissions. While nuclear energy will remain the largest CO2-free energy source in the U.S. for years to come, we do not believe it is the only solution.

AREVA also has a rapidly growing renewables business. Our ADAGE joint venture with Duke Energy plans to develop a fleet of biopower facilities that can play a major role in helping meet renewable generating standards. We just announced the location of the first potential plant west of Jacksonville, Fla., a few weeks ago.

We are also actively looking for locations for our 5 MW offshore wind turbines along the U.S. and Canadian coastlines or in the Great Lakes.

Thus, we urge Congress to support climate legislation that recognizes the important roles nuclear energy and renewables play in helping prevent CO2 emissions and protecting our environment.

——-

UPDATE: We are happy to see that this legislation passed the House (219-212) and now will move on to the Senate process.