Our View: Nuclear power gets fresh look

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger may have signaled a new era of common sense for California regarding energy matters by announcing last week that nuclear power has "a great future" and should be considered, rather than "just looking the other way and living in denial."
We hope this points to a change in attitude among policy-makers, and to overturning a statewide ban on nuclear power plants imposed in 1976. Assemblyman Chuck DeVore, R-Irvine, who last year unsuccessfully authored a nuclear energy bill, is encouraged by Schwarzenegger's endorsement of the concept.
"I'm delighted to see Gov. Schwarzenegger now out front on this vital issue," DeVore said. The Irvine Republican again has introduced two bills (AB 1776 and AB 2788) in the current session to repeal the nuclear power-plant prohibition.
Schwarzenegger and DeVore are joined by public opinion that increasingly looks favorably on nuclear energy. A 2006 poll of likely voters, for example, showed those favoring nuclear power to be equal to those opposed, each drawing 46 percent of responders. That's an impressive increase from just one year before when opponents were 55 percent and those in favor only 37 percent. That's all on the plus side.
On the negative side, the usual suspects are in opposition. "Nuclear power has no future in California's new energy era because of its monumental dangers to the health and welfare of Californians," declared Democratic Assemblyman Lloyd Levine, chairman of the Assembly Utilities and Commerce Committee.
Contrary to Levine's assertion, there are at least 434 operating nuclear reactors worldwide meeting the electrical needs of a billion-plus people, according to a report by the National Center for Policy Analysis. If those have resulted in "monumental" dangers, we must have missed that story.
Nuclear power provides about 75 percent of France's energy, and even 20 percent of U.S. power from 103 nuclear plants, including two California plants in San Onofre and Diablo Canyon. China plans 30 new nuclear reactors in the next five years. For 30 years there were no applications processed for nuclear plants in California, but the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has received seven applications in the last year alone and expects another dozen by year's end, representing a total of 22 reactors, according to the Sacramento Bee.
A single, quarter-ounce pellet of uranium creates as much energy as three and a half barrels of oil, 17,000 cubic feet of natural gas or 1,780 pounds of coal - without CO2 emissions, according to the NCPA. The nuclear option is a perfect opportunity for Democrat obstructionists and radical environmentalists to support clean power generation without burning fossil fuels that generate the dreaded greenhouse gas, CO2.
Or will Democratic and radical environmental interests keep California in the dark while the rest of the world taps this reasonable, economical and environmentally clean option?