We just want to share some of the discussion that has been taking place in U.S. news this week:

From “Nuclear is Good Investment for Economy, Environment and Energy Security” by Bernard Weinstein in the San Antonio Express-News

“A decade ago, objections from environmentalists were the principal roadblocks to new [nuclear] plant construction. But most of the concerns over safety and waste disposal have been allayed while the environmental lobby now acknowledges that nuclear power generation is environmentally benign. Today, the potential hold-up to new plant construction is the availability of financing. In the current economic climate, industry executives are concerned that banks and Wall Street will not provide the money needed to build new reactors unless the loans are guaranteed by the federal government.”

John Tomasic of the Colorado Independent wrote this about Democratic Senator Mark Udall – “Udall Reasserts Controversial Pro-Nuclear Position”

“At an “open hearing” held at Rocky Mountain National Park today, Colorado U.S. Sen. Mark Udall (D) repeated his support of a national energy plan that would increase use of nuclear power as a way to combat global warming… Udall falls into a group of green leaders turned by the climate change debate into nuclear supporters. Stewart Brand, the famous founder of the environmentalist Whole Earth Catalog, made a splash in 2007 by endorsing nuclear power.”

And in an opinion editorial by Washington State Senator Jerome Delvin in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, “Nuclear Energy: It’s the Only Way to Go Green”

“The term “nuclear waste” is a misnomer. This used fuel is actually a very valuable commodity. Used fuel still holds 95 percent of its energy and can be recycled and reused in the reactor.

In the U.S., used fuel is stored safely and securely above ground, adjacent to the power plant which produced it. This has been done for many years and can continue for the next several decades. However, we should follow the lead of France, Japan and England and recycle this used fuel.”