Obama unveils loan guarantee for first U.S. nuclear plant in 30 years

After touring a job training center at the headquarters of Local 26 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers in Lanham, Maryland, Obama made the announcement to a union audience.

Obama said that the initiative will create thousands of construction jobs and 800 permanent jobs. He called it "only the beginning" of efforts to develop "safe, clean" energy-efficient technologies.

The union represents electrical and telecommunications workers, and it offers training useful for energy jobs, including the construction of nuclear power plants.

Federal loan guarantees are seen as essential to spurring construction of new reactors because of the huge expense.

The reactors will be built by the Atlanta-based energy company near Waynesboro, Georgia.

"We've already made the largest investment in clean energy in history, an investment that is expected to create more than 700, 000 jobs across America -- manufacturing advanced batteries for more efficient vehicles, upgrading the power grid so that it's smarter and stronger, and doubling our nation's capacity to generate renewable energy," Obama said.

"But in order to truly harness out potential in clean energy, we'll have to do more," Obama said, "That's what brings us here today."

Some analysts said that Obama is trying every possible way to create jobs recently; Kazinform cites Xinhua.

See www.xinhuanet.com/english2010/ for full version