What role does nuclear power play in the U.S. effort to cut greenhouse gas emissions?

NPR's Leila Fadel speaks with Kathryn Huff, an official at the Department of Energy, about the future of nuclear energy in the United States.

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST: President Biden arrives in Egypt this morning to deliver remarks at the U.N. Climate Conference. Here at home, the U.S. is taking action to decrease its dependency on fossil fuels in the energy sector. But is it enough to combat the worst effects of climate change? This is the first of several conversations that we're going to feature on the show about America's climate agenda. Here's my co-host, Leila Fadel, with Kathryn Huff of the U.S. Department of Energy, talking about the role of nuclear power.

KATHRYN HUFF: I think nuclear energy is definitely part of the answer, but it's going to take every low-carbon energy source we have available to us to meet the kinds of challenges that climate change has put in front of us. There's no question that it'll require renewables and carbon capture and sequestration, and it will require nuclear, and quite a lot of all of them.

LEILA FADEL, BYLINE: What about safety? I mean, I think when people who aren't familiar with nuclear energy - everybody will still know Chernobyl and Fukushima.

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