US energy chief: don't delay new nuclear plants [even as the old ones are melting down] 15 Mar 2011 U.S. regulators should press ahead with approving construction licenses for new nuclear power plants despite Japan's nuclear crisis, President Barack Obama's top energy official said on Tuesday. Energy Secretary Steven Chu said lessons could be learned from Japan, where an earthquake-crippled nuclear power plant exploded and blasted radiation into the air, but that was not a reason to delay expansion in the United States.