McCain's Plan to Expand Nuclear Stations

John McCain, the republican candidate in the U.S. presidential election in November, after a visit to Enrico Fermi Nuclear Generating Station in the Detroit suburbs, decisively defended the expansion of nuclear power and promised to carry out his plan of constructing 45 new stations.

Visiting the aforementioned station, which is named after a scientist who constructed the first nuclear plant, McCain is the first American presidential candidate who has visited a nuclear power station as a part of his campaign to enter the White House.

El Pais, a Spanish newspaper, reports, these acts suggest that the nuclear power issue is on top of the Republican candidate’s plans on the energy and power list. According to this report, McCain’s plans and statements are also reactions to the rising price of petroleum that has made White House officials return to the thought of expanding nuclear power more seriously.

On his visit to Enrico Fermi Nuclear Generating Station, McCain emphasized the U.S. need to construct 45 new nuclear power stations in the next 20 years with the goal of ensuring U.S. energy independence as a prerequisite for the country’s continued dominance. Currently there are 104 active nuclear stations in the U.S. that only provide 8% of the country’s power consumption. The last nuclear power station was constructed 12 years ago, in 1996, in Tennessee.

Also on Monday in a speech, Barak Obama, the Democratic U.S. presidential candidate, emphasized the need for energy independence for the U.S., but he was suggesting a widespread public investment in expanding new sources of energy such as wind power. Although McCain called his opponent’s idea naive, and said that at a time when the world is dealing with the worst known energy crisis, Obama is after “inflating the tires.”

He said, “I am going to lead our nation to energy independence and I’m going to do it with a realistic and comprehensive ‘all-of-the-above’ approach that uses every resource available to finally solve this crisis.” The Republican candidate added that the accessible energy for [America] is nothing but nuclear power.

McCain is famous for his support of U.S. nuclear energy expansion. McCain, the Arizona senator, along with Senator Joe Lieberman were among defendants of the sanction of an act on environmental issues in Congress, a case which also included a 3.7 billion dollar investment in the nuclear industry.

Regarding this issue, McCain has several times cited France, which gets 80% of its energy from nuclear resources and stations. He believes that France can be a good guide for finding a trusted and safe replacement for oil, regardless of any political or ideological approach.

By emphasizing the immediate need to expand the nuclear power stations, McCain affirmed, “since the atom fission and discovering its massive energy in 1930s until now, there have been great achievements and advancements for its assurance as a safe source of energy.” He repeatedly refers to his longtime experience in the U.S. navy, saying that aircraft carriers and submarines have been safely operating with nuclear power plants for decades without malfunction or seriously dangerous accidents.

Although he does not disapprove of the expansion of other replacement energy sources, he affirms that achieving them requires time and also remarkable American economic growth. On the other hand, Obama is not against nuclear power and has defended its expansion with consideration of proper security conditions and limitation several times.