Fresno, a fast-growing former farming community popularly associated with raisins, is seeking a higher-tech image -- as the future home of a nuclear power plant that could supply power for 1.6 million to 2 million homes."Nuclear power holds great promise for the entire San Joaquin Valley," Fresno Mayor Alan Autry told reporters in December, when a group of local businessmen unveiled plans for the plant. "We must find a way to become energy self-sufficient."
The Fresno plan is one of dozens for new power plants in the United States, where the rising costs of natural gas and coal, concerns about global warming, and $8 billion in incentives from the federal government are renewing interest in atomic energy.
Almost all of the 30 applications for new reactors expected in the next few years are likely to come from Southern states, which need relief from the cost and pollution of coal plants.
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