Senator Larry Craig and Al Gore on Nuclear Energy

During his testimony before the U.S. Senate Energy and Public Works Committee, former Vice President Al Gore had this exchange with Senator Larry Craig (R-ID) on nuclear energy. Near the start of the video, Craig accused Gore of gutting funding for nuclear R&D during the Clinton Administration.

As you can see, Gore claimed not to know what Craig was talking about, and said that he'd respond directly at a later time. Here's graphic that NEI developed to demonstrate exactly what happened to the DOE R&D budget during the Clinton years:

Interesting.

UPDATE: More from Congressman Mike Simpson (R-ID).

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Fluor Invests in NuScale

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Wednesday Update

From NEI’s Japan micro-site: NRC, Industry Concur on Many Post-Fukushima Actions Industry/Regulatory/Political Issues • There is a “great deal of alignment” between the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the industry on initial steps to take at America’s nuclear energy facilities in response to the nuclear accident in Japan, Charles Pardee, the chief operating officer of Exelon Generation Co., said at an agency briefing today. The briefing gave stakeholders an opportunity to discuss staff recommendations for near-term actions the agency may take at U.S. facilities. PowerPoint slides from the meeting are on the NRC website. • The International Atomic Energy Agency board has approved a plan that calls for inspectors to evaluate reactor safety at nuclear energy facilities every three years. Governments may opt out of having their country’s facilities inspected. Also approved were plans to maintain a rapid response team of experts ready to assist facility operators recoverin

NEI Nuclear Notes

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