"A public policy decision like that, I think, needs to have much more study," Evans said. "That's one that has a lot of implications and a lot of strong feelings that need to be discussed in a public forum."

Sen. Gregory S. Bell, R-Fruit Heights, said he was intrigued by the idea of nuclear power but was not ready to vote on the issue.

Instead, an amendment promoting the "development of cost-effective energy resources, both renewable and non-renewable" was included in the bill that was passed by the Natural Resources, Agriculture, and Environment Interim Committee and the Public Utilities and Technology Interim Committee.

"Nuclear energy has come a long ways from Three Mile Island and Chernobyl," Noel added. "The Chinese have moved forward tremendously and made great strides in pebble-based reactors. France is two-thirds nuclear. Germany is half-nuclear. It's a very, very clean source of energy. I think it should be something in our state energy policy."

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