Nowhere on earth does the state take nuclear safety more seriously that in Japan, so as this tragedy unfolds, becoming worse by the hour, we need to take care that we do not repeat the disaster here. With that in mind, lets review Republican policy on nuclear power.
Commenting on the unfolding nuclear reactor crisis at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi plant, John McCain [propaganda delinked] (R-AZ) said recently:
I think what happens now to this power plant as to whether the damage is contained or not will have a direct effect on the future of nuclear power in the United States. Let’s have a little straight talk.
Kicked off by the 9.0 magnitude earthquake which struck the country on Friday, the crisis has already become the worst nuclear accident since the Chernobyl disaster. An ensuing series of explosions and breakdowns has forced workers on site to react with increasingly desperate measures to bring the crisis under control, primarily by pumping seawater into the damaged reactors in an attempt to cool the overheating cores.
Not surprisingly, the crisis has also inspired renewed debate over the future of nuclear technology here in America. It’s worth noting that, before offering “straight talk” on nuclear energy, McCain and fellow Republicans — including Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN), Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK), and Sen. Kit Bond (R-MO) — were displaying a frighteningly blasé and contemptuous attitude towards the severity of nuclear power’s dangers and the regulations necessary to address them… [emphasis added]
Inserted from <Think Progress>
Here’s the video:
Remember that these same Republicans are now downplaying the crisis in Japan, because they don’t care if we have such a catastrophe here, as long as the energy companies make their profit.
4 Responses to “Republicans on Nuclear Power”
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When candidate McCain mocked Obama’s concerns about safety and environmental issues WRT nuclear power as – literally – “Blah, Blah, Blah!” – that pretty much guarantees that those oncerns were and are valid.
If McConJob/Mooseolini has won, companies would have to prove reactors unsafe to get a permit.
The Merced nuclear energy board just gave Fresno the go-ahead to plan a nuclear power plant here. They said that modern plants won’t do what the Japanese plants will do. Fresno has no flowing water source, it sits in a bowl surrounded by mountains. I wonder what about radio active glass pit don’t they understand.
Blue, it’s hard for me to comment, because I know nothing about the specifics there. Wind blows through mountains and scours bowls there, and isn’t California probe to an occasional earthquake? 😉