Nuclear Power Makes a Comeback.

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Utility deregulation, escalating natural gas prices and electricity shortages have led to bidding wars for old nuclear power plants which, until recently, would have been labeled white elephants.

Several factors are making these power plants more attractive. Nuclear power industry officials point to California's rolling blackouts, rising electricity (and natural gas) rates coupled with increasing demand for reliable power as reasons energy generators and regulators are taking a second look at nuclear power. Utilities emphasize that today's plants are safer and more efficient than those of 20 years ago.

"I think we have an obligation to look at all forms of generation," says Washington Representative Larry Grouse, co-chair of the House Technologies, Telecommunications and Energy Committee. He is interested in exploring nuclear power as an untapped resource for his state.

Washington currently operates the Columbia Generating Station near Richland, which supplies enough power to light Seattle. The state also has a nuclear plant that was 70 percent complete before it was mothballed in the 1980s.

During the...

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