I have to say that I think McCain has missed the mark. He talks about reducing green house gas emissions so that we can give future generations a hopefully less damaged planet. McCain uses solar, wind and nuclear power as examples of how we can do this. While wind and solar are great options, the idea that using nuclear generated power is going to give anyone a less damaged plant is preposterous. Yes nuclear is cleaner in terms of emissions, but in the long run, and that’s what we are talking about with climate change, using nuclear power will leave future generations with an even bigger mess to clean up. If we stopped emitting green house gasses today, it would take our planet and our atmosphere somewhere around one hundred years, maybe a little bit more, to clean itself to post industrial revolution standards. Nuclear waste lasts thousands of years. That’s 100’s of generations of children and grand children who will have to deal with the waste we have deposited into Yucca Mountain.
It's disheartening, but at least he knows how to say nuclear, I suppose it could be worse.