Senator Dodd on Nuclear Energy

Senator Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) is running for President, and he's keeping an open mind on nuclear energy. From the Brattleboro Reformer:

Dodd addressed nuclear energy head-on during a question-and-answer session following the speech.

"I will not take nuclear power off the table," he said. "If we're going to deal with global warming, we're going to have to deal with the grid."

When asked specifically about Vermont Yankee's license renewal following the event, Dodd said he could not comment on a specific plant, but argued that nuclear energy may be necessary to adequately deal with global warming.

"There aren't many options at this point," he said. "There are issues, obviously, with waste. The French are doing some interesting things with nuclear. There are things developing all the time. We're better managing today than we were 15 years ago with waste, with these heavy dry casts."

Dodd lives a mile from Connecticut Yankee -- the nation's oldest power plant, which is now being decomissioned -- and said he understands the issue well.

"If you're truly interested in reducing, as we should, the use of fossil fuels and nonrenewable sources of energy, then you've got to have that option on the table at least for consideration. And I don't retreat at all from serious problems with waste and transportation."

As we've said before, nuclear energy isn't a left/right issue anymore.