The Nuclear Renaissance?

Steve Scher
03/16/2010 at 9:00 a.m.

No new nuclear reactors have been constructed in the United States for a generation due to concerns about waste, safety and cost. Now some environmentalists think nuclear energy is key to solving the climate crisis. Private companies are investing in new technologies, and President Obama recently announced the federal government will provide loans for two large–scale nuclear reactors in Georgia. They are the first nuclear plants to be approved in America since the Three Mile Island meltdown. Leading nuclear innovators have settled here in the Pacific Northwest. We'll talk about the future of nuclear energy in Washington state and beyond.

Tomorrow on "Weekday:" Everyday Mysteries With Journalist David Grann

Guest(s)

Daniel Pope is professor of history at the University of Oregon, specializing in US business and economic history. He was a Harvard–Newcomen Postdoctoral Fellow, and author of the book "Nuclear Implosions: The Rise and Fall of the Washington Public Power Supply System."

K.C. Golden is Policy Director at Climate Solutions, a non–profit based in Olympia that aims to influence climate change policy at the state and federal levels. He participated in the 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, and is on the executive board of Energy Northwest (formerly Washington Public Power Supply System).

James Conca serves as the CEO of the Carlsbad Environmental Monitoring and Research Center at New Mexico State University. He is co–author of "The GeoPolitics of Energy: Achieving a Just and Sustainable Energy Distribution by 2040."

Greg Kafoury is a lawyer in Portland, Ore. He worked with Lloyd Marbet and Dan Meek as a co–director of Don't Waste Oregon to successfully campaign for the closure of the Trojan Nuclear Power Plant.