Progress CEO: Climate bill could spur more nuke plants

The climate change legislation being debated in Congress would require Progress Energy to build a dozen nuclear reactors to comply with the greenhouse gas limits proposed in the bill, company CEO Bill Johnson told Bloomberg News at an industry conference in Florida.

Proposals in Congress seek to reduce the nation's carbon dioxide emissions by 83 percent by 2050. Coal-burning power plants, which account for more than half the electricity generated in North Carolina, are a major contributor of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas that traps heat and is believed to exacerbate global warming.

Johnson spoke at the Edison Electric Institute financial conference in Hollywood, Fla.

Raleigh-based Progress currently operates five nuclear reactors, one in Florida and four in the Carolinas. The company has applied for a federal license to add two reactors in Florida and two at its Shearon Harris complex in Wake County. The company hasn't made a final decision whether to build the plants.