But it's a bit too soon. New non-nuclear power plants are being built throughout the West, he said. Many people in the nuclear industry are waiting to see how those plants will affect the energy supply. McDonald and Golden said there appears to be renewed interest in nuclear power. Reactors remain controversial Nuclear power, a controversial topic since its midcentury inception, could be making a comeback thanks to decades of safety within the industry, its steadily improving record of productivity, and the ongoing energy crisis.
Recent polls show an increasing number of people in support of nuclear power.
The results of an Associated Press poll released this week showed, for example, that half of its respondents supported nuclear power, compared with 45 percent two years ago, and that 56 percent of those supporters would allow a nuclear power plant to be built within 10 miles of their home. A national telephone poll of 1,000 adults in March, conducted by Bisconti Research Inc. for the Nuclear Energy Institute, found that two-thirds of the respondents approved of building new nuclear power plants, up from 42 percent in an October 1999 survey. The last U.S. reactor, Watts Barr in Spring City, Tenn., went on line in 1996 after more than 22 years of construction, design and financial problems, Merschoff said. Opponents prepare to fight Longtime opponents of nuclear power are preparing to fight any new construction. Any new nuclear plant would take at least six years to build, too long to help with the current energy crisis, he said.