President Obama is putting a nuclear plan into place just like he said he would. This is a big reach for the Democratic Party as they have been against nukes since 1980. The administration has planned a loan guarantee to build the first nuclear power plant in the United States in close to thirty years. They are hopeful that this will be the shift in energy strategy to lessen dependence on foreign oil and reduce the use of other fossil fuels. President Obama is expected next week to announce the loan guarantee to build the nuclear power plant. The locations for the two new Southern Co. reactors are to be built in Burke, Georgia. This is great news for other sites as there are thirteen other applications before the NRC which are expected to be announced in the coming months even though the earliest any of those could be approved would be late 2011 or early 2012. The federal guarantees are seen as essential for construction of any new reactor because of the tremendous expense involved. His is not anything more than business as usual as once the loans are guaranteed the taxpayers can expect cost overruns and loan defaults. The real dollars for the budget are adding $36 billion in new federal loan guarantees that goes on top of $18.5 billion has already been budgeted making the total of $54.5 billion. The projection is the two reactors would generate power for some 1.4 million people and employ about 850 people and create about 3,000 construction jobs. We hardly ever agree with this President but al least this time we are on board and in agreement.