On nuclear power and natural gas

Woolsey says that unlike Europe, the U.S. is in little danger of having its natural gas supplies cut off since we only import about 15% and its mostly from Canada. Whitman responds to the original question by saying that our not having built a nuclear plant in over 30 years has not stopped nuclear proliferation from moving forward. The U.S. is also very careful about how we treat nuclear waste, so this should not determine if we increase our nuclear energy. Podesta says we need to maintain our existing nuclear power, but cost is preventing any new plants from being built. You need to put a high price on carbon. Harbert counters that there is a backlog of loan applications for nuclear plant construction. Whitman agrees on the need to impose costs on carbon through a cap-and-trade program, but the market, not the government, has to drive action.

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• energy
• fuel
• gas
• oil
• renewable
• angle
• whitman
• podesta
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• harbert
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• university of Virginia