Where Obama and McCain Stand on Nuclear Energy

Nuclear energy can be safe and clean if appropriate precautions and technologies are employed. McCain wants that energy to fight the uncontrolled appetite for fossil fuels that drains US balance of payments and makes certain terror sponsors rich. Senator from Arizona is clear about what he wants. He believes America has the capabilities to achieve the . clean nuclear energy. Obama, on the other hand is not that sure that nuclear energy can be that clean and safe based on our technologies and safeguards.

As an American citizen, I am perplexed who to support. I do not like to pay $4.00 a gallon in gas price. It is disrupting my standard of living. At the same time I do want freight trains carrying nuclear wastes through my back yard move towards the Yakima Mountains in Nevada where they will be stored forever. I did not forget the Chernobyl in Russia. In a nutshell the nuclear wastes if uncontrolled and mot monitored can be as harmful as nuclear wastes from the weapons.

The nuclear weapons complex generated waste, pollution, and contamination that pose unique problems, including unprecedented volumes of contaminated soil and water, radiological hazards from special nuclear material, and a vast number of contaminated structures. Factories, laboratories, and thousands of square miles of land were devoted to producing tens of thousands of nuclear weapons. Much of this is largely maintained, decommissioned, managed, and re-mediated by the EM [Environmental Management] program, which is sometimes referred to as the "cleanup program." EM's responsibilities include facilities and sites in 30 states and one territory, and occupy an area equal to that of Rhode Island and Delaware combined - or about 2.1 million acres.

The question is who should we vote for on this issue? We need cheaper, made in America energy, but we want a safe and clean environment for ourselves and our children and their children. France is a good example. Senator McCain should point finger at France to cite a good example. Close to 90% electricity in France is produced from nuclear reactors. France has one of lowest nuclear disaster rates in the world. Cam Mr. Obama import the French model of nuke use? I like Obama’s caution and I also like McCain’s urgency. Both are right in their own way, but as Americans what we need is a mixture of both. The race is clear, who can come to the center as how fast?