New Nukes There is a major national energy policy debate brewing in our own backyard. While I think it is a mistake to smear the more modern designs of nuke plants with the obvious failings and dishonesty of the Vermont Yankee Rowe plant, the Vermont Senate has made the prospect of new 21st century American nuclear plants a little less likely.

Investigators recently discovered that plant officials covered up leaks of tritium -- a cancer-causing chemical. Shumlin says senators also worried about billions in financing for a spinoff Entergy has proposed to run the old plant.

SHUMLIN: Our judgment in Vermont is this makes Lehman Brothers and AIG and the other shenanigans on Wall Street look like kindergarten play.

The Vermont vote reverses some of the Obama administration's push for nuclear power as a cleaner energy source.

Am I the only layperson who thinks that the modern plants are a viable option while the '50s and '60s era plants need to go away? Are these two issue so intertwined politically that your average person cannot perceive the difference between the two technologies?  ¶ 8:18 PM