WFXG Fox54 Augusta-Your News One Hour EarlierEnergy Secretary Chu visits Plant Vogtle

Just days after receiving the first approval for a Combined Construction and Operating License, Plant Vogtle played host to Cabinet member, Secretary of Energy Dr. Steven Chu.

Chu re-enforced the Obama administration's desire to jump start the nation's nuclear industry and become the world's nuclear leader.

"The global competition for nuclear technology and leadership is fierce," Chu said to the crowd of hundreds gathered outside the construction site. "The choice of our country is clear: we casn make these technologies today or we can import them tomorrow."

Chu says other nations have taken the reins of nuclear energy, but adds America is determined to get them back.

"If you look across at other countries, for example, Germany. They're doing very well and have a very positive balance of trade for exporting high technology items," he says. "We have lost some of that. We want to get it back."

And as the U.S. seeks to gain a leg up on the rest of the world, Secretary Chu says the work being done in Burke County shows Plant Vogtle will be a leader in gaining that competitive edge.

"America has the opportunity to lead the world in clean energy technologies. What you're doing here at Vogtle will help us compete in the global clean energy race," Chu told the crowd. "The resurgence of America's nuclear industry starts here in Georgia."

Reactors three and four, the two being constructed now, will use state of the art nuclear units, ones that are safer and more certainly constructed. The new reactors have those in the nuclear energy field excited about the possibilities moving forward.

"The two-fer in this project gives us really a launching pad for the future," says Whitehouse Electric Company PResident of Operations Ric Perez.

Chu says he wants to see America back at the top of the energy leaderboard, and says the nation needs to step up its game to get there.

"So if we want to be on the top of producing nuclear energy technologies that will be used here and around the world, we need to be on top of our game," he says.

And Plant Vogtle, Chu notes, shows America is back on its way to its A-game.