President Barack Obama pledged $8 billion Tuesday to develop two new nuclear reactors, a move viewed as extremely controversial by environmentalists, but championed by many Republicans.

The reactors, to be built in Burke, Ga., will be the first nuclear power projects to break ground in the U.S. in three decades.

The project is part of Obama's plan to decrease carbon emissions and increase jobs, but he also clarified that the move was part of a broader step to pave the way for a bipartisan energy bill to pass through the Senate in the future.

Obama addressed critics of nuclear energy by championing its environmental benefits as opposed to fossil fuels, and its wide use in the U.S.

"Nuclear energy remains our largest source of fuel that produces no carbon emissions," he said. "To meet our growing energy needs and prevent the worst consequences of climate change, we'll need to increase our supply of nuclear power."

He said that one of the new nuclear reactors will cut carbon emissions by 16 million tons annually, when compared to a coal plant of similar nature, an equivalent of taking 3.5 million cars off the road.

Despite Obama's praise of nuclear energy, many environmentalists were not satisfied with the announcement.

Greenpeace took to the main page of its Web site to blast both Obama's plan and nuclear energy, with a headline reading "Nuclear Power: Dirty and Dangerous, NOT Clean or Green."