EDITORIAL: Push for nuclear power the real deal?

There was some heartening news in President Barack Obama's State of the Union Address Wednesday that could have an impact locally.

The president called for America to build new nuclear power plants as part of the solution to our nation's energy situation.

He told the combined House and Senate that more clean energy jobs need to be created.

"But to create more of these clean energy jobs, we need more production, more efficiency, more incentives. And that means building a new generation of safe, clean nuclear power plants in this country."

That is news that nuclear power proponents have bee seeking for the past three decades. Nuclear power has already proven itself to be safe and clean. It can be an even cleaner technology if there is recycling of spent fuel and if a permanent repository is opened for the long-term disposal of used nuclear material.

Unfortunately, the Obama administration in its early days decided to slam the doors on Yucca Mountain in Nevada, a site that had been eyed for more than 20 years as just such a storage facility. This is a political issue that must be resolved if the United States is to make the best use possible of nuclear energy.

The president's words Wednesday are welcomed by those who maintain that increased use of nuclear power will decrease the nation's reliance on foreign oil and provides a green way of producing the nation's energy needs well into the 21st century. The proof of his sincerity will rest in the actual construction of a new plant and its sending out electricity to the nation's grid.