How Mad Is John McCain?

 Let me start by making it clear that John McCain is not mad at me. In fact, during our conversation yesterday he was rather polite and thoughtful. But it seems clear that he is indeed mad. Quite mad. At the Obama Administration.

 Comparing our experiences over recent weeks, our executive editor Margaret Ryan and I concluded that from what we've seen, Sen. McCain has taken every opportunity to just hammer administration officials during hearings. The trend continued at the Senate Energy Committe's hearing on nuclear energy development. This time Nuclear Regulatory Commission chairman Dale Klein was in the crosshairs.

 Sen. McCain, like many other committee members who attended the hearing, wanted to complain about the White House "taking Yucca Mountain off the table." First, some background. More than 20 years ago, Congress designated Yucca as the nation's nuclear waste repository. "The" repository, as in, "The one and only place within the U.S. that we have for long-term storage!" But that law has not stopped Senate majority leader Harry Reid from doing what he can to keep the waste our of his home state (Nevada). And it didn't stop the current administration from declaring Yucca Mountain as essentially a non-viable site.

 You can see what he had to say to me about the administration, and specifically its decision on the Yucca Mountain repository, on the Clean Skies TV website. My story (and my conversation with Sen. McCain) is on the March 18th edition of The Energy Report in our Interactive Programming Guide.

 Now, Sen. McCain pressed Klein on the issue, asking him, "Are you operating under the assumption that Yucca Mountain will become a reality?" When Klein didn't respond directly, McCain asked again with emphasis, "Are you operating under the assumption that Yucca Mountain will become a reality?" Eventually, Klein said, "We are not counting on Yucca Mountain being successful." So there.

 Then, Sen. McCain honed in on security issues. His point? Having dozens and dozes of dry-cask storage sites across the country poses a much greater security risk than having a single, well-guarded site for nuclear waste. But, as he said to needle the Obama administration, "that's not gonna happen."

 While we're talking Nuclear with a capital N, Dale Klein shared a few predictions during his testimony and afterward during a conversation outside the hearing room. He expects all 104 U.S. reactors to be successfully relicensed and still operating in the 20 years. The first new reactor to come online will most likely be Southern Company's Vogtle unit in Georgia. And there is no way any new reactor will be providing any electricity generation before the year 2016. So sit tight if you're clamoring for a low-carbon economy.

 Interestingly, Sen McCain initially said that he didn't have time for my questions as he left the hearing room in DOB at a brisk walk. But not three seconds passed before he promptly stopped dead in his stride, performed a 180, and said that, sure, he could answer a few of my questions about the hearing. Oh, and after out interview the senator actually apologized to me for being rude. 

 He's not a Virginian by birth, but the senior senator from Arizona has always acted like A Gentlemen during our conversations.

 Here's a link to the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee's website, where you can find the opening statements from the NRC's Dale Klein and other witnesses on developing nuclear energy.