Clyburn Sees ‘Significant’ Role for Nuclear Power in Energy Debate
Geof Koss
CongressNow
May 15, 2007
House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.), the third-ranking Democrat in the House, today said expanding the use of nuclear power will be a key topic in the unfolding debate over climate change and energy security.
“We must develop a smorgasbord of energy choices,” Clyburn said today at a forum about nuclear power in the Capitol. “I believe nuclear has to be a significant part — who knows, in some places it could be the centerpiece — of the smorgasbord.”
Clyburn made the remarks at a discussion entitled “The Role of Nuclear Energy in Addressing Our Nation’s Energy Challenges” hosted by the CASEnergy Coalition, led by former Republican New Jersey governor and EPA administrator Christine Todd Whitman and Patrick Moore, a co-founder of Greenpeace. The group is promoting nuclear as a clean and safe energy solution.
His remarks highlight softening Democratic opposition to nuclear power as an energy source in the face of global warming and concerns over U.S. dependence on foreign energy supplies.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) raised eyebrows this year when she testified before the House Science Committee that she was open to considering nuclear power because of concerns over climate change. Nuclear energy does not emit any carbon dioxide emissions, the leading cause of climate change.
However, Clyburn noted that disposal of highly radioactive nuclear remains a significant obstacle to new nuclear power, and suggested that the waste might be better dealt with at the power plants where it is currently stored.
Moore, who left Greenpeace in the 1980s after becoming disillusioned with the group’s policies, said the solution to the nuclear waste problem lies in recovering and reusing uranium from spent nuclear fuel.
“Other countries have solved this problem and are moving forward,” he said. “There is no technical obstacle to dealing with the spent nuclear fuel.”
The Bush administration has proposed a similar domestic initiative, but it has garnered a mixed reaction from lawmakers, who have been reluctant to provide the White House’s funding request in recent years.
Separately, Clyburn downplayed Pelosi’s July 4 deadline for the House to debate comprehensive climate change legislation. “We said we would present [a bill] to the country by July 4,” he said.