Energy

A new report from the Utility Data Institute (UDI) that says nuclear power production costs are cheaper than coal is being touted by advocates as support for a growing interest in building large base-load power plants to ensure against capacity shortages in the age of deregulation.

President-elect Bush is calling for a rolling back of environmental standards to address the power crisis in California, which some say may present the incoming administration with its first major policy test. "To the extent that we can help California maximize power production at its plants, we need to do so. If there's any environmental regulations, for example, that's preventing California from having 100 percent max output at their plants, like I understand there may be, then we need to relax those regulations," Bush told CNN on the opening night of his inaugural ceremonies.

The chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee is drafting legislation that will establish a federal office to study the possibility of recycling spent radioactive wastes from nuclear-powered utilities in an effort to address the country's mounting nuclear waste disposal problems, according to a Senate source. The proposal is part of a broader bill intended to resolve the nation's energy shortages, which is expected to be offered by Sen. Frank Murkowski (R-AK) in the next few weeks with the support of GOP Senate leader Trent Lott (R-MS).

The electric utility industry has drafted a five-point national plan for addressing the power crisis in California that the industry says "poses a number of broad-based threats" to power generation. The plan calls for an increase in energy conservation efforts and investments in siting new power transmission facilities throughout most of the country.