D.C. Delegation Moderately Sunny (With Light Jitters) About Nuclear Power

WASHINGTON--Despite the unfolding nuclear crisis in Japan, Connecticut's congressional delegation expressed continued support for nuclear power, even as they called for more scrutiny of the industry.

Lawmakers walked a careful line between raising questions about how to improve the safety of U.S. nuclear reactors and voicing confidence in the long-term viability of an energy source that is a vital part of Connecticut's power supply.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal has asked the Nuclear Regulatory Commission a series of questions about the safety of U.S. nuclear power plants, including whether operations at plants built before 1980 should be temporarily suspended.

Blumenthal's inquiry came as Connecticut's senior senator, Joseph Lieberman, pulled back from comments he made over the weekend, in which he suggested that U.S. regulators should "put the brakes" on construction of new nuclear power plants until the ramifications of explosions at Japan's nuclear plants became more clear.

"I don't favor a moratorium. I don't know enough now to favor a moratorium," Lieberman said Tuesday. The Connecticut independent also said he would not support a temporary halt to issuing new permits for nuclear power plants.

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