What Policymakers Are Saying About Nuclear Energy

NEI has added a page highlighting a number of quotes from policymakers over the past week. Speakers include President Obama, the Senate minority and majority leaders, several Senators and Representatives, two governors, and other Administration officials. Here’s one from Deputy Energy Secretary Dan Poneman:

“[F]rom the aspect of policy, safety has always been our paramount concern and we will continue to strive to make sure that all of our energy sources keep that first and foremost. And so we continue to rely on the independence of the NRC and its ability to make those judgment calls as to whether it is operating safely enough. But we will not rest from our perspective at all, because we’ll continue to take every data we can into account and continue to improve the safety of our nuclear power and any other energy source that we are advancing.” - March 17, 2011

Comments

Steve said…

How these Democratic senators (except for Harry Reid) can be FOR nuclear energy but AGAINST Yucca Mountain is beyond me.

At the very least, the NRC should proceed with the Yucca Mountain license application. Let the experts decide if the site is suitable or not. We're entitled to at least that for our $10 billion investment in the project.

March 21, 2011 at 1:08 PM

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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

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