Fifty years have passed since Glenn Seaborg discovered the explosive ingredient for nuclear energy, and the Nobel laureate says it's time for the United States to overcome its fear of the technology.
Seaborg and other pioneers in the field believe nuclear power should play a greater role in meeting the nation's energy needs because burning coal pollutes the atmosphere."We have to increase our electrical generation with a clean, efficient form," Seaborg said. "It's either that, or we are going to go downhill economically."
Seaborg and other nuclear pioneers met at Virginia Tech last week to reminisce and tape a video on plutonium's anniversary.
"Nuclear power has to be brought into the picture again, based on its success in the world experience," said Robert Marshak, founder of the International Conference on High Energy Physics.
Their views on nuclear power are shared by the Council of Society Presidents, which passed a resolution in May urging the Bush administration to support a policy for developing nuclear energy.
The leaders of 55 scientific societies urged improved regulations for nuclear energy production, development of standardized and advanced designs for nuclear plants and siting and licensing of permanent waste repositories.
Jim Warner of the Natural Resources Defense Council said, "Neither Wall Street nor Main Street seem very enthusiastic about a resurgence of nuclear power when we haven't gotten over our hangover from the first surge."
Warner, whose group supports conservation, said customers in several states are still paying for nuclear power plants that were never completed. Investors, he said, are shying away from utilities that generate a large percentage of their power through nuclear energy.