Senator Obama Wrote to NFRC Co-Chair in 2007 Re Nuclear Power

From: senator_obama@obama.senate.gov

To: ClintonCrackel@aol.com

Sent: 4/7/2007 7:05:55 P.M. Central Daylight Time

Subj: Message from Senator Barack Obama

Dear Clinton:

Thank you for your letter regarding your support of greater utilization of nuclear power. I was interested in your perspective.

I appreciate the environmental argument you make for nuclear energy. While the threat of nuclear accidents and the dumping of spent nuclear material have serious environmental implications, nuclear power is one of the few emissions-free energy sources available to us. I also noted your concern that any of our more common energy sources do not have the longevity of alternative fuels and will eventually run out, and agree that this consideration should weigh heavily in our debate over energy policy.

I am open to the use of nuclear power production as a transition to new energy technologies, but I think answers to a variety of safety questions, such as how we are going to transport and dispose of nuclear waste safely, are required before we seriously consider initiating an expansion of nuclear power capacity. Also, I am concerned about national security concerns when it comes to nuclear power, particularly in regards to spent nuclear fuel rods, which are periodically removed from reactors and can be used to produce weapons. These concerns led me to pass a provision in the Environment and Public Works Committee in the 109th Congress that requires the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to track unaccounted-for spent nuclear fuel rods used at power plants in the United States.

Again, thank you for relaying your views on national energy policy. Please stay in touch in the days ahead.

Sincerely,

Barack Obama
United States Senator