OAK RIDGE, Tenn. -- Sen. Lamar Alexander drew a standing ovation from scientists at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory on Friday as he proposed a massive national commitment to clean energy and reducing dependence on foreign oil.

"I propose that the United States launch a new Manhattan Project for clean energy," the Tennessee Republican said, "with the goal of making our nation independent within a generation."

Alexander is not the first to compare "the sense of urgency" needed to meet today's energy challenges to the Manhattan Project race in World War II to develop the first atomic bomb.

But Alexander, newly named chairman of the Senate Republican Conference, may be the first offering to pull together a bipartisan five-year plan, with help from the scientific community, that he hopes to deliver to the next president shortly after the November election.

House Science Committee Chairman Bart Gordon, D-Tenn., pledged to work with Alexander.

"I suspect Sen. Alexander and I will put together a proposal for the next president before the end of this year," Gordon said. "It will not be a final plan, but certainly a call to action."

"Instead of ending a war, the goal will be clean energy independence," Alexander said. "So that we can deal with rising gasoline prices, electricity prices, clean air, climate change and national security. For our country first, and (then) ... for the rest of the world."

The cost could be steep. Alexander, noting the Manhattan Project cost $24 billion in today's dollars, said it was too early to talk about budget requirements.

But Gordon said the new energy initiative would cost "clearly billions of dollars." Still, he said, "I think that can be done."

"We need to move, we can't wait," echoed U.S. Rep. Zach Wamp, R-Tenn. who represents Oak Ridge and is a ranking member of the House Appropriations Committee. "Four-dollars-a-gallon gas is the incentive."

Alexander, a former Tennessee governor, university president and U.S. education secretary, outlined seven "grand challenges" for energy-related research over the next five years.

Alexander would focus on the following:

Supporting plug-in electric vehicle development, including "smart metering" by utilities that would allow cheaper rates for overnight battery charging.

Making solar power cost competitive with fossil fuels, with the promise of solar thermal power plants.

Making biofuels cost competitive with gasoline, particularly ethanol from cellulosic materials.

Making more new buildings energy efficient.

Developing systems to capture and store carbon emissions from coal-fired power plants.

Developing ways to safely reprocess and store nuclear waste -- the "most important breakthrough" needed to support more nuclear plants.

Continuing research on nuclear fusion.

Thom Mason, director of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, said there is one significant difference between Alexander's proposal and the Manhattan Project. The bomb-building project was top secret, but solving large energy issues will likely require international collaboration, he said.

"We will develop ideas and sell them to the world," Mason said.

Alexander believes he can find broad support for big goals that can lead to "grand consequences" and "real scientific breakthroughs." The National Academy of Sciences and Department of Energy want to participate.

But some question Alexander's objectives and his timing.

"Strangely, he is not mentioning wind power in that equation," said Gil Melear-Hough of the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy. "That is not terribly shocking (Alexander is a wind opponent), even though it is probably the most competitive and most established technology available."

And fusion energy, Melear-Hough said, "is a great theory, but if it will be available in 20 years that would be an incredible accomplishment. To be talking about it now, as far as dealing with our problems, is silly."

Mike Padgett, a Democrat running for Alexander's Senate seat, said Alexander's plan was "an election-year reinvention" of himself to win votes. "In five years as a United States senator, he has done nothing that would prevent the pain we're feeling now at the pump," Padgett said.

Padgett said he would end "the tax breaks enjoyed by Big Oil and apply the revenue to a trust fund that will help innovators develop alternatives to foreign oil and more gas-efficient vehicles."