Wisconsin Assembly to vote on lifting nuclear power moratorium via THOnline.com

MADISON, Wis. — The state Assembly is set to take up a bill that would lift Wisconsin’s moratorium on new nuclear power plants.

Republicans who control the chamber placed the bill on Tuesday’s calendar during a meeting Thursday.

Under current law, state regulators can’t approve a new nuclear power plant unless a federal storage facility for waste from nuclear plants nationwide exists and the plant wouldn’t burden ratepayers. No centralized federal repository exists. Nuclear plants have been storing waste on-site.

Republican Rep. Kevin Peterson’s bill would erase the storage facility and ratepayer language from state law, in effect clearing the way for new plants. Peterson has argued that nuclear power is a clean, affordable option as the state works to meet new federal greenhouse gas emission rules.