Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee is the latest Presidential candidate to talk to Grist about his positions on energy and the environment. Here's his answer on nuclear energy:
Q. Do you think we need to expand the role of nuclear power in the U.S.?
A. Absolutely. France is almost completely nuclear, and it's not like they're a nation given to risky behaviors. There's been a real bias against nuclear energy in the United States, going all the way back to Three Mile Island in 1979, but I think most of it is unfounded. I mean, we've been running nuclear submarines for 60 years without accidents.
Comments
Now Dominici is retiring from the Senate next year and nuke power loses a strong voice on the Energy sub-committee.
Mark my words: elect a Democrat for President in 2008, and the whole tone of the NRC will change.
And you ALL know that to be true.
I don't believe in catering to the whims and fancies of such people when they make noises that sound pro-nuke, but do things that are anti-nuke.
As the Romans always said: Facta, Non Verba!
1) The Democrats aren't going away, and in fact may well hold the White House and both houses of Congress in 2009 for reasons that have little to do with nuclear energy.
2) The nuclear industry/community's ability to change this outcome is limited to the margins.
3) Republicans as a group have, as you've noted, consistently supported nuclear energy, though there are undoubtedly exceptions. Democrats are divided on the issue, with a few strong supporters, a fair number of implacably opposed, and others somewhere in between.
4) I suspect in most of the congressional districts where nuclear energy is an issue, the major party candidates take the same view on it.
Given all of the above, it would seem to me that people who care about supporting nuclear energy - whether as professionals or as other interested parties - would be putting much of their general effort into persuading moderate Democrats.
While I care a great deal about the success of commercial nuclear power, I shall never vote Democrat, nor shall I ingratiate myself with them in the faint hope that they may change their foolish ways and support nuclear power. Truthfully, while I find their anti-nuclear position to be childish and silly, my reasons for opposing the Democrat Party have little to do with nuclear power. But nevertheless, mark my words: elect a Democrat President and the whole pro-nuclear, "let's build new plants climate" will change - and for the worse. Oh, the Democrats might not go away right now, but when they finish, United States power will certainly be gone.
As a scientist, I can tell you there is nothing foolish about the opposition to nuclear power, the main reason for doing so being the lack of a safe way to dispose of or utilize the waste by-products. It is an unnecessarily complex way to boil water and still creates problems heating the nearby waterways and the environment generally. O'Bama is the only Dem front runner I've heard support it "