An article in this morning's Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune, "Nuclear energy is enjoying a renaissance," looks at the economic and political landscape of nuclear energy expansion in Minnesota.For those building new — and Gov. Tim Pawlenty has proposed lifting the state’s moratorium — construction will be faster than in the past, however, said Kent Mortensen, industrial analyst at Thrivent Financial for Lutherans in Appleton, Wis. Instead of designing every plant separately, as in the past, the NRC is approving a handful of technical designs — from firms including Westinghouse and Mitsubishi — and power companies will choose from one of these standard approved designsThe piece is interesting enough on it's own to merit posting but really it provides an opening for me to point to a nugget discovered over the weekend, from an August 15th article in the St. Cloud Times: Senate candidate Al Franken (D) supports nuclear expansion.
New nuclear power plants and new “clean” coal and natural gas plants that can capture emissions thought to cause global climate change should also be pursued, Franken said.Channeling [and misquoting] Stuart Smalley on nuclear, "We're good enough, we're smart enough, and doggone it, people like me."“To me, if we’re going to be serious about ... climate change, this is an opportunity we have to take,” he said of increasing nuclear energy production. “The problem is what to do with the waste. But I believe we can continue to improve the technology to monitor and store it.”
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