‘Freedom’ energy

France ends up as the butt of many American jokes. During the early stages of the Iraq war, many in this country took to replacing a certain F word in food names with "freedom."

What kind of energy jokes do you suppose they make about America, Ohio in particular, over in France? Ohioans, after all, aren't so eager to embrace energy freedom the way the French have.

The Associated Press recently reported that, despite Gov. Ted Strickland's call for it and the Legislature's embrace of alternative energy, including nuclear power, Ohio is nowhere near adding to its nuclear capacity. The French have 73 nuclear power reactors in a country slightly smaller than Texas - and their energy bills come in much cheaper than ours. The entirety of Europe has 197, with 13 more under construction.

America, however, hasn't issued permits for a new nuclear power plant in three decades. Europe never slowed construction. Meanwhile, it is on these shores that peak demand every summer causes blackouts and brownouts in various communities.

High construction costs and the price of disposing of radioactive waste are two reasons for the lack of growth - 15 companies have applied for new permits, none in Ohio, but Public Utilities Commission of Ohio Chairman Alan Schriber cited a third reason. He told AP it's a cultural aspect, which means the environmental lobby has enough of us still afraid of nuclear power to keep paying higher energy costs. The environmentalists are the same ones who keep this country from tapping many of its own gas and oil deposits - perhaps you've noticed the prices of those.

Those opposed to nuclear power do have some powerful historic references to keep everyone trembling. Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania and Chernobyl in the Ukraine serve as reminders of what could happen. A 2002 acid leak at one of two reactors in Ohio led to no harm, but did add to fears about what might happen. Meanwhile, we all pay for what is happening with other energy supplies.

Schriber told AP new technology has made nuclear power plants cheaper to build and safer to operate. That's worth thinking about the next time you pay your energy bill. Americans increasingly want to ignore the alarm of environmental to drill our own gas and oil. It's time Ohioans start rethinking nuclear power, too.