McCain's Pitch for Safe Nuclear Power May Be Undercut by Leaks

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=axF9MBjUF_L0&refer=home

McCain's Pitch for Safe Nuclear Power May Be Undercut by Leaks

By Lorraine Woellert

Aug. 16 (Bloomberg) -- Republican presidential candidate John McCain promotes nuclear power as a central element of his energy plan, boasting in particular about the safety record of the Navy's reactor-propelled fleet.

``We have been sailing nuclear ships around the world for 60 years, never had an accident,'' McCain, an Arizona senator and former Navy pilot, said July 22 in Rochester, New Hampshire.

Only two days later, the Navy disclosed that one of its nuclear submarines, the USS Houston, had been leaking radioactive coolant for two years as it called on ports in Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, Guam and Hawaii. The incident is part of a spate of nuclear accidents on land and sea that may undermine McCain's message.

Even after the Navy reported the Houston incidents, McCain continues to make the safety record of nuclear power a staple of his energy proposals. At an Aug. 8 fundraiser in Rogers, Arkansas, he said the U.S. has ``never had a serious problem.''

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[Doctor Cynic]

1. Mr. Burns is grinning...