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Senator Clinton on Energy Policy

By Eric McErlain
Senator Hillary Clinton gave a speech on energy policy at the National Press Club earlier this week, and in stark comparison to President Bush's speech on energy policy at Limerick yesterday, had little to say about nuclear energy:
Nuclear is now very much in the news as a potential power source because of its lack of contribution to global warming. If you look at nuclear energy, which currently provides 20 percent of our energy with virtually no emission of greenhouse gases, we do have to take a serious look, but there remain very serious questions about nuclear power and our ability to manage it in a world with suicidal terrorists.

So I have real concerns, specifically about a plant in my state near where I live, Indian Point, which has had a number of problems, and more generally with the capacity and quality of the oversight provided by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

So we need to resolve problems with the NRC, as well as questions of cost, safety, proliferation and waste, before we go forward with nuclear power.
Needless to say, we believe the industry has answers to many of these questions already. A good place to start would be a speech our CEO Skip Bowman gave at MIT earlier this year that directly addressed questions on safety, cost and waste. As for the industry's relationship with the NRC, a speech Skip gave at the agency's RIC conference in 2005 is a good place to start, while the keynote he gave at NEA 2006 also addresses several regulatory issues relating to the agency's future workload.

For a look at the security issue, be sure to read the testimony NEI Senior Vice President and Chief Nuclear Officer Marv Fertel submitted to the House Government Reform Subcommittee on National Security, Emerging Threats and International Relations.

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