Despite radioactive criticism from the environmental left, the president gave America's energy future a major push in the right direction last week when he announced $8 billion in new federal loan guarantees to build two nuclear reactors in Georgia. Obama's budget would triple — to $54.5 billion — loan guarantees available for nuclear construction.

The announcement stems from hard work by Democratic Sen. Jeff Bingaman and former Republican Sen. Pete Domenici in setting up the loan guarantees through passage of the 2005 Energy Policy Act. The role of the two New Mexicans was so important that President George W. Bush came to Albuquerque to sign the legislation.

Bingaman and Domenici realized nuclear power was a key to America's clean energy future that is less dependent on coal and foreign oil.

The 1979 accident at Three Mile Island set America's nuclear power industry back decades. A partial meltdown in Unit 2's nuclear core and radiation releases forced the evacuation of thousands of people. There were no deaths or injuries, but the resulting hysteria among a population that often confused reality with the movie, "The China Syndrome," was a political reality. The accident at Chernobyl also gave pause.

But instead of calmly assessing and addressing safety issues, we wrung our hands as other nations moved ahead with nuclear power and fuel reprocessing. The United States has not approved a new nuclear plant since a year before Three Mile Island.

Technology and plant design have improved since 1979. There is a whole new generation of nuclear reactors and more stringent oversight by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Still unresolved is disposal of radioactive waste, although fuel reprocessing is a viable technology being used elsewhere. Obama stopped development of a nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain in Nevada and has appointed a commission to find a safe way of handling waste, but there is no long-term plan for storing it. While Energy Secretary Steven Chu says nuclear plants will likely continue to store spent fuel rods on site, that's not acceptable in the long term.

But that issue can and will be solved if we address it on the basis of science instead of rhetoric.

Obama's decision to move ahead on the Georgia plants gives hope this administration will do just that. Meanwhile, give him credit for following Bingaman's and Domenici's lead.