Bill targets controversial Utah nuclear power plant plan (Utah)

[jpak]

http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_11438114

Sen. Scott McCoy says his nuclear-power bill makes sense, making sure that ratepayers don't wind up paying for a reactor boondoggle and that residents don't get stuck with storing containers of nuclear waste.

But Aaron Tilton, promoter of the state's first nuclear power plant, called the measure "a backhanded slap" at nuclear power and "a grandstanding bill" that will be dead on arrival in the upcoming 2009 Legislature.

"The bill is basically going to go nowhere," said Tilton, a Republican who lost his own House seat last year, in part, over his involvement with the power plant, a 1,500-megawatt nuclear station.

McCoy, a Salt Lake City Democrat, said the bill is timely because there are no reactors in the state -- yet.

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