Posted on behalf of Roberta Kwok
Nuclear energy and coal will continue to provide US electricity needs even as research into carbon capture, nuclear waste disposal and renewable energy is conducted, Steven Chu told a Senate committee at his confirmation hearing today.
Chu, who was nominated by President-elect Barack Obama as Secretary of Energy last month, faced questions from the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources about nuclear power, coal plants, the electrical grid, nuclear waste clean-up and US relations with China. Biofuels and renewable energy, which Chu has championed, took a backseat to issues surrounding current mainstream energy systems.
The hearing began with effusive praise from Senators Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, who represent Chu’s home state of California. “There is no one brighter or better-equipped than this man to become Secretary of Energy,” Feinstein declared. Boxer added: “When we demand good science, up-to-date science, we can trust that he knows it.”
But the hearing quickly turned to tougher questions about Chu’s stances on nuclear energy and coal, which supply the bulk of US electricity today.
“Will you take a lead, not just to talk about it, not just to opine about it, but actually do the things necessary to see if we can’t restart our nuclear industry?” asked Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama. Tennessee Senator Bob Corker echoed the question later, asking Chu if he meant to “pursue nuclear now… all out now?”
Yes, yes, and yes, Chu replied. “Nuclear power is going to be an important part of our energy mix,” he told the committee, a position he has stated before. Chu noted that nuclear power provides 70% of the carbon-free electricity in the country. Still, he said it was important to continue researching better waste disposal and fuel recycling technologies, perhaps in collaboration with other countries.
Chu also clarified his position on coal, which he has previously referred to as his “worst nightmare.” If the world continues to use coal the way it does today, he said, then it would be a “pretty bad dream.” But he expressed optimism that scientists could come up with technologies to capture carbon dioxide and said the US had a unique ability to show leadership in this area. Chu met with leaders of a cancelled Illinois pilot clean-coal plant last week.
Chu, co-winner of the 1997 Nobel Prize in Physics, is new to the world of politics after years of working as a research scientist at Stanford University and the University of California, Berkeley, and most recently as director of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL). His inexperience in Washington appeared to surface occasionally, as when Chairman Jeff Bingaman asked whether the Department of Energy (DoE) could quickly carry out energy infrastructure improvements as proposed under the economic recovery bill. Chu said he had spent significant time managing LBNL operations and emphasized the importance of moving rapidly to address those issues. “We wish you well in that regard,” Bingaman said drily, to laughter by audience members presumably familiar with the DoE’s reputation as a sluggish bureaucracy.
Chu expressed the most enthusiasm when talking about biofuels, a research area he has promoted at LBNL. “Now we’re getting to the science – I love this,” he said when Senator Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas asked for more details about bacteria-produced gasoline substitutes created at the lab. He said that fourth-generation biofuels, which use genetically modified organisms to produce fuels, could be ready for testing in just a few years.
Chu said he supported Obama’s decision to continue allowing offshore drilling and that it was “in the national interest” to develop the electrical grid, though such improvements would require careful negotiations with state and local authorities over the location of transmission lines. He also said improving energy efficiency of homes and cars was important both to lower the American family’s energy costs and reduce energy demand.
The committee will vote on the nomination later this week, and the Senate-wide confirmation is expected to take place next Tuesday.