McCain wants 45 new nuclear reactors by 2030

Republican presidential candidate US Senator John McCain (R-AZ) speaks
during a town hall meeting at Federal Hall in New York June 12, 2008.

SPRINGFIELD, Missouri (Reuters) -- Republican John McCain promised on Wednesday to put the United States on course to build 45 new nuclear reactors by 2030 if elected president as part of a plan to move the country toward energy independence.

McCain, his party's presumptive nominee in this fall's presidential election, is laying out a strategy to wean the United States from foreign oil, an issue that has risen to the top of voters' minds as gasoline prices soar.

The Arizona senator has argued forcefully for more nuclear plants, seeing them as part of a solution to fighting climate change and establishing U.S. energy independence.

There are 104 operating U.S. nuclear reactors at present, which generate about 20 percent of the country's power supply.

"If I am elected president, I will set this nation on a course to building 45 new reactors by the year 2030, with the ultimate goal of 100 new plants to power the homes and factories and cities of America," McCain told a campaign event in Missouri, an electoral battleground state.

"If we're looking for a vast supply of reliable and low-cost electricity -- with zero carbon emissions and long-term price stability -- that's the working definition of nuclear energy."

Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, McCain's presumptive Democratic opponent, has issued supportive statements about nuclear power but has set no outright goal for building plants.

Though nuclear energy is key to meeting U.S. climate concerns, the issue of disposing of nuclear waste from U.S. plants and solving nuclear proliferation concerns are also paramount, Obama's campaign said on its website.