I had an interesting experience at the Democratic Party caucus last night. When it came time for platform resolutions I introduced a resolution that because nuclear power is not clean, safe or cheap, Iowa should adopt a moratorium on the construction of new nuclear power plants. One of the people in my precinct forcefully debated with me on nuclear power. I suspect he had some connection to Duane Arnold or was an engineer at Rockwell. He said opposition to nuclear power is a scare tactic, that no one has been hurt in the U.S. from nuclear power, that Fukushima was no problem because no one was killed there, that France is doing well using nuclear power, and that radiation is actually good for you (I am not making this up). Others got into the debate as well. One other person said we need to keep our energy options open. In the end, my resolution failed 6-5.
What this tells me is that we have a lot of work to do educating the public.
Wally Taylor
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