Nuclear power is a fix for Utah energy woes

The old days of anti-nuclear fearmongering may be over, but Utah has not fully recovered from 30 years of anti-nuclear propaganda. As a result, many continue to harbor misperceptions about the technology. Nuclear energy is often maligned for being too expensive. Experience tells a different story. Uranium-fueled reactors produce electricity for less than coal, gas or renewable plants. Of course, today's reactors are all paid for, and new reactors will include the construction costs. Nonetheless, given the 60- to 80-year life span of the average nuclear power plant and the low fuel costs, utilities across the country are champing at the bit to build new plants.

Then there's security. Nuclear plants were secure before Sept. 11. But now they're extraordinarily secure. If they were such easy targets, at least one of the 440-plus plants around the world would have been attacked at some point. They have not.

And finally, safety. Not one person has ever been killed as a result of a nuclear accident at a U.S. commercial nuclear power plant. And that includes Three Mile Island. No one wants Homer Simpson running a nuclear power plant. But given the layered safety mechanisms in place, he probably could.

With the push for a carbon-constrained society, the state and the country would best be served by an energy mix that includes fossil fuels, nuclear power and renewable energy.

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Jack Spencer is a research fellow in nuclear energy at the Heritage Foundation.