Nuclear Energy

During your campaign you always kept the issue of nuclear energy on the backburner. That made political sense by not alienating the far left of your party during the primary, and opposing Yucca Mountain helped you win Nevada in the general election. But now that you won, it’s time to take another hard look at nuclear. As you said during your campaign, it is going to take a comprehensive energy policy in order to break America’s dependence on foreign oil, and nuclear needs to be part of the solution. Although nuclear already provides nearly 20 percent of U.S. energy, the construction of a new nuclear power plant has not been approved in the United States since the tragic accident at Three Mile Island nearly three decades ago. The fear surrounding nuclear energy has not caught up with science and new developments in safety standards. Pebble-bed reactors (PBR) are meltdown-proof, and by approving the construction of a new reactor you could assure the American public that nuclear energy can be a safe, clean, and reliable component of our energy strategy. The real issue then becomes storage. It won’t be popular, but you’re going to need to find a place to store nuclear waste underground (preferably not in Nevada, Ohio, Florida, Pennsylvania, Colorado, Missouri, North Carolina, or Virginia if you plan on getting re-elected).