From the Associated Press (Lori Obert) via 9News.com:
A need for electricity and jobs is driving the proposal [for a nuclear power plant in Pueblo County]. But three days of recent public hearings underscored mixed public opinion after the Japan disaster — sentiments driven by conflicting desires for jobs, tax revenue, energy diversification and safety.
“Nuclear is the safest form of electric generation there is, and it’d be a shot in the arm for the county and city,” 55-year-old Gerald Campbell, who holds a doctorate in molecular biology, said after listening to opponents at one Pueblo County Commission meeting.
“People are afraid of what they don’t know,” said Aaron Ackerman, a Pueblo native and nuclear engineering student at the Colorado School of Mines. He noted that the containment domes around the nuclear reactors at Japan’s Fukushima Dai-ichi complex weren’t built to withstand the disasters that struck it.
Rancher Abel Rael, 64, opposed the project. “People aren’t going to want to buy vegetables from this area,” he said.
“There are a lot of competing interests here,” said Commissioner Jeff Chostner. “All of that is background for making a very local decision.”