Nov. 21--Western Kentucky would benefit from a comprehensive energy policy that includes consideration of nuclear power plants, nuclear recycling facilities and coal-to-liquid fuel plants, Gov. Steve Beshear said Thursday.

Beshear released a 144-page plan that he hopes to begin implementing next year when the General Assembly meets. It will take several years to carry out some parts of the plan because of the potential cost, Beshear said in a phone interview.

He said the plan would help make Kentucky a leader in the national effort to reduce energy dependence on foreign countries, many of which are enemies of the United States.

"It also has an economic development benefit," Beshear said. "If we are successful in carrying it out, 40,000 new jobs would be created by 2025."

He said one of the early goals would be to lift the state's 1979 ban on building new nuclear power plants.

"It is time to have conversations about the role that nuclear power should play in the future," Beshear said. "It already is part of our strategy nationally because we produce 20 percent of our electricity by nuclear energy."

He said the U.S. has 110 nuclear plants, including four in Kentucky's neighboring states.

"As long as we have a total ban, we can't get serious players to have serious discussions about nuclear power," he said.

Beshear said technological advances in recent years have made nuclear energy safer.

Paducah is the site of the nation's only plant that produces nuclear fuel. Although a new plant in Ohio is scheduled to replace the Paducah plant in six or seven years, the prospect of increased demand for nuclear fuel could keep it open.

The governor also said Paducah's experience with nuclear energy would make it a prime site for a plant to recycle spent nuclear fuel. The U.S. Department of Energy's plans to build a recycling plant have been put on hold. Paducah was one of several potential sites.

Beshear said the proposal to build a $7.5 billion coal-to-liquid fuel plant in Paducah is an example of the type of development his energy plan promotes.

Clean Coal Energy Resources of Louisville is considering a plant that may employ more than 1,000 workers once it is fully operational in five to seven years. Officials are expected to make a decision about the plant early next year.

Beshear said plants like the one proposed for Paducah are environmentally friendly because of carbon sequestration, which pumps emission deep into the earth.

In addition to nuclear energy and coal-to-liquid fuel plants, Beshear's plan includes five strategies to meet the state's power needs, which the governor said will increase 40 percent within the 17 years.

The strategies include an increase use of renewable fuels, such as solar, wind and hydro power; reducing power consumption to making homes and businesses energy efficient; making vehicles more efficient; increasing production of biofuels; using coal to produce natural gas and finding new ways to reducing harmful carbon emissions from coal-fired power plants.

Bill Bartleman can be contacted at 575-8651.

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