Nuclear catastrophe underscores state’s ban

Talk about it

Two state Assembly Democrats say the nuclear crisis in Japan is reason enough to continue Wisconsin’s 28-year-old ban on new nuclear power plants. South Milwaukee Republican Mark Honadel still plans to sponsor a bill this year to drop the moratorium.

But Milwaukee Democrat Josh Zepnick said nuclear plants create doubts about public safety, and that’s proven by the radiation surge in Japan in the wake of the earthquake and tsunami. Madison Democrat Brett Hulsey says the safety questions need to be answered, and there’s no rush to build a nuclear plant in Wisconsin due to the state’s current surplus of electricity.

Honadel says ending the moratorium does not mean that somebody will build a plant overnight; it’s only meant to open the door to a debate. Wisconsin passed its moratorium in the wake of the nuclear meltdown at the Three Mile Island plant in Pennsylvania in 1979.

The industry says it’s become a lot more advanced since then. And national leaders of both parties have promoted nuclear power as a clean-energy option. Republican lawmakers have tried for years to end the state’s ban on new nuclear plants. Democrats agreed last year to relax the ban – but not end it – as part of a larger renewable energy package that never passed.

Tags: wisconsin, government, politics, energy