The first application to build a new nuclear power reactor since the 1979 Three Mile Island accident has been filed in the United States. Wittily titled energy company NRG Energy wants to build two new reactors in Texas (San Antonio Express, Daily Texan, Dallas Morning News). If things go the company’s way the Advanced Boiling Water Reactors could be online in 2014 and 2015 respectively.

“It is a new day for energy in America,” said David Crane, the company’s president and CEO (press release). “… But equally, this announcement heralds a new day for the environment. Advanced nuclear technology is the only currently viable large-scale alternative to traditional coal-fuelled generation to produce none of the traditional air emissions – and most importantly in this age of climate change – no carbon dioxide or other greenhouse gases.”

Not so says Ken Kramer, director of the Austin chapter of the Sierra Club – one of America’s largest environmental groups. He told the Star Telegram that nuclear power still involves significant carbon-dioxide emissions in the mining of uranium and construction of the facilities. The proposed reactors will be on the site of an existing nuclear plant but this is unlikely to make them uncontroversial. Still, the Wall Street Journal reckons this might just be “a nuclear renaissance” and it says regulators are expecting up to 29 applications in the next 15 months.

Image: Artist’s impression of the new units / NRG