DeVore stands by plan to lift ban on new nuclear plants

After two attempts to bring nuclear power back to California were killed in committee with a party-line vote this week, Assemblyman Chuck DeVore managed to find an unlikely avenue for his plan — a UC Berkeley academic journal.

An article by the lawmaker is featured in this week’s edition of Ecology Law Currents; he argues that lifting California’s 1976 ban on the construction of new nuclear power plants would significantly reduce carbon emissions in the state.

“Nuclear power plants are an efficient, safe, and non-carbon emitting way to meet California’s energy demands,” he said in a statement.

Critics of nuclear power have charged that the waste produced by the plants poses an ecological hazard and that nuclear energy does not go far enough in solving the energy crisis.

DeVore pledged to continue introducing bills to lift the ban, insisting it’s “the right thing to do.”

— Chris Caesar