The task force led by Vice President Dick Cheney that created President Bush's energy strategy has been dogged by critics. Bush allies say the criticism of the group that it worked in secret and was cozy with energy industry executives is unfair.
More nuclear power means more waste with no good place to put it, they say.
But lower-level staffers reportedly handled much of the grunt work. Another task force staffer was Energy official Joe Kelliher, a former nuclear power lobbyist, Newsweek magazine reported. Nuclear company executives said the task force allowed them to make their pitch. Joe Colvin, president and chief executive of the nuclear power industry's leading lobby group, Nuclear Energy Institute, met at the White House with Lindsey and top Bush adviser Karl Rove in March, NEI spokesman Mitchell Singer told the Sun. Singer didn't reveal details, but said it was more of a general lesson on nuclear power than a presentation of the industry's wish list.