Franken, Bachmann talk nuclear power post-tsunami

The Minnesota Legislature is debating lifting a moratorium on new nuclear power plants in the state while the world watches a nuclear crisis in Japan following one of the largest earthquakes and tsunamis in modern history. Both Sen. Al Franken and Rep. Michele Bachmann weighed in on the safety of nuclear power, and the two politicians, diametrically opposed on most issues, both said roughly the same thing: Proceed but with caution.

“I think we want to take all the facts into account,” Bachmann said of the situation in Japan in an interview with Fox News on Wednesday. “I’ve been told this is the highest regulated industry, and rightly so, in the United States.”

She added that we should learn from the tragedy in Japan.

“To say we should do away with nuclear would not be a good idea. This is a good safe clean history that nuclear has provided the United States.”

Here’s video of the interview:

In an interview with Northland’s News Center, Franken said that the crisis in Japan was good reason to pause and think about nuclear energy carefully.

“I think if we learned one thing it’s that we shouldn’t be building nuclear facilities on seismic faults, and there are a few in California, and that’s very troubling,” he said. However, he added that nuclear energy is part of energy reality in the United States.

“It is part of our energy portfolio,” he said, “and we need to make sure we do this safely and that we can store and monitor the waste.”