Nuclear Energy Insight
June 2007—The third-ranking House Democrat said that nuclear energy must have a significant role in America’s future energy policy and “could be the centerpiece” of some states’ energy plans.
“We must develop a smorgasbord of energy choices,” said South Carolina Rep. James Clyburn, the House majority whip. “I believe nuclear has to be a significant part of the smorgasbord. … In some states, it may be the centerpiece of the smorgasbord.”
Clyburn was the keynote speaker at a Capitol Hill forum on nuclear energy hosted by the Clean and Safe Energy (CASEnergy) Coalition, which supports an expanded role for nuclear energy in the nation’s electricity sector.
“I do believe in the development of [an energy] policy, and we need to have all of the options,” Clyburn said. “I know from talking to the people in South Carolina that anxiety is building on national security, the environment and whether we will have ‘new’ economies.” He added that South Carolinians generally favor the use and expansion of nuclear energy.
The coalition’s leaders, former New Jersey Governor and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Christine Todd Whitman and Greenpeace co-founder Patrick Moore, echoed Clyburn’s support for nuclear energy.
“If you look at projected electricity demand through 2030, we must do better than standing still at 20 percent electricity generation from nuclear energy,” Whitman said.
Moore told the gathering of congressional staff, reporters and CASEnergy Coalition members that energy security and greenhouse-gas-emission reduction are drivers for the nuclear renaissance worldwide.
Mark Brownstein of Environmental Defense said that energy market mechanisms should drive innovation and expansion of energy sources.
“Everything I do is done to address climate change and because of that, all energy sources must be on the table,” Brownstein said.
He said Environmental Defense believes safety and security, used nuclear fuel management, and nonproliferation issues “need to be addressed” if nuclear energy is to play a greater role in U.S. electricity production.
—Read more articles in Nuclear Energy Insight and Insight Web Extra.