Obama administration eyes nuclear option

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It's a carbon-free energy source with one heck of a stigma, but some environmentalists say that nuclear energy should provide a bigger share of the U.S. energy make up in order to combat climate change.

This week comes word that the Obama administration wants to help the nuclear industry build a new power plan for the first time in years. Carol Browner, the President's top energy and climate adviser, said that nuclear should be a key part of the country's energy portfolio and that the Administration was working with industry leaders to to build a new plant in the "not too distant future."

Investment in nuclear power has been largely nonexistent since the Three Mile Island accident in 1979. But the Nuclear Energy Institute reports that nuclear power provides almost 20 percent of the U.S. electricity supply.

Corvallis-based NuScale Power is developing a modular nuclear power system.

Reuters' full report on Browner's comments about nuclear power can be read here.