New Nuke Power Plant Pitched

Despite warnings of another Three Mile Island or Chernobyl, New Jersey-based NRG Energy has set in motion a plan to build two more reactors at its South Texas nuclear power plant, an hour outside Houston. The application, filed Monday, was the first of its kind in over 30 years, and more are on the way, Scientific American reports.

"It's a new day for energy in America," said NRG's CEO, touting nuclear power as the only viable large-scale alternative to coal-fired plants that doesn't emit greenhouse gases. The $6-billion project has received backing from Congress and the Department of Energy, though it certainly has its detractors, who point to nuclear waste and meltdown risks as unavoidable--and perhaps insoluble--problems. (More climate change stories.)