Senator Lamar Alexander sees no reason to abandon nuclear power

• By Michael Collins
• Knoxville News Sentinel
• Posted March 14, 2011 at 10:51 p.m.

WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander said Monday the nuclear crisis triggered by a devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan should not be a reason for abandoning nuclear energy in the United States.
“The lesson that America can take away is this: Learn all we can from this Japanese experience to make the operation of American reactors as safe as possible,” the Maryville Republican said.
Alexander, the Senate’s No. 3 Republican, has long been a proponent of nuclear energy and has called on the federal government to allow for the construction of 100 nuclear power plants over the next 20 years.
In a speech on the U.S. Senate floor, the senator made it clear his enthusiasm for nuclear energy has not waned despite explosions at Japan’s nuclear plants following last week’s deadly earthquake and tsunami.
Alexander called nuclear “a demanding but manageable technology.”
“Without nuclear power,” he said, “it is hard to imagine how the U.S. could produce enough cheap, reliable, clean electricity to keep our economy moving and keep jobs from going overseas.”
“We don’t abandon highway systems because bridges and overpasses collapse during earthquakes,” Alexander said. “The 1.6 million of us who fly daily would not stop flying after a tragic plane crash. We would find out what happened and do our best to make it safe,” Alexander said. “And that’s what we need to do here.”