John McCain gambles on nuclear power pitch in Las Vegas

John McCain took his energy platform to Las Vegas today, calling for an expansion of nuclear power in an area where the disposal of nuclear waste is a thorny issue.

For the second day in a row, McCain – who prides himself on his reputation as a political maverick – went to an area to push a position that creates local problems. On Tuesday, he campaigned on energy issues in Santa Barbara, where his call for offshore oil drilling makes even Republican supporters such as Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger unhappy.

“The need for more production extends as well to another long-neglected source of energy, and that is nuclear power,” McCain said in prepared remarks this morning.

“Here, too, opposition to this clean and proven technology has more to do with politics than with the merits. The experience of nations across Europe and Asia has shown that nuclear energy is efficient. It is safe, it is proven, and it is essential to America’s energy future,” he said.

In Nevada, the issue is how to dispose of the radioactive waste left over when power plants produce electricity. Yucca Mountain, located on federal desert land less than 100 miles from Las Vegas, was supposed to be such a disposal site.

McCain supports opening Yucca Mountain, but local Democratic legislators are sharply opposed to the idea.

“If McCain wants to talk to Nevadans about energy, he ought to explain how he plans to deal with the nuclear waste that would result from the 45 new nuclear reactors he has said he would build by 2030,” said Rep. Shelley Berkley (D-Nev.) in a fact sheet distributed by the Democratic National Committee.

“It’s very easy to call for more nuclear energy,” Berkley said. “But nuclear energy has a dangerous byproduct: radioactive nuclear waste. Mr. McCain has no plan other than storing nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain.”

But McCain today defended taking contrary positions.

“Political campaigns have a way of settling on a few great questions, with little regard for the expectations of pundits, and even less concern for the carefully crafted strategies of the candidates themselves,” he said.

“These questions are rarely easy. Politicians usually avoid them for just that reason. And so it is good when events intrude on the familiar routine of stale sound-bites, staged rallies, and overmanaged messages, and turn to the concerns of the people themselves. In this election, the price and security of energy in America is one of those great questions,” McCain argued.

Energy is shaping up as one of the issues dividing McCain from his likely Democratic opponent, Barack Obama, who was meeting with business leaders today in Chicago. Obama is also expected to win the endorsement of top labor leaders in the next few days.

Obama has called for investing as much as $150 billion in the next 10 years on alternative fuels. He has rejected ending the federal ban on offshore drilling and has criticized McCain’s plan to suspend federal taxes on gasoline during the peak summer driving season.

But the Obama campaign, which today unveiled a website to deal with energy issues, www.NewEnergyForAmerica.com, has used McCain’s positions to press its core theme that the Arizona senator would continue Bush’s policies.

“John McCain is offering George Bush’s failed polices and gimmicks that may poll well, but that his own campaign admits will do nothing to help Americans struggling with high prices and deepen our oil dependence.”

 michael.muskal@latimes.com