Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant: The WikiBook/Bernie Sanders

Following the 2011 Japanese nuclear accidents,US Senator Bernie Sanders called for a moratorium on the licensing of new nuclear plants and relicensing of existing ones, in an effort to slow down what's been touted as a nuclear renaissance in the United States. Sanders wrote to President Barack Obama asking for him to appoint a special commission to review the safety of U.S. nuclear plants. Sanders also wants to repeal a federal law that he says leaves the taxpayers to pick up most of the costs of a major nuclear accident. He says "in a free-enterprise system, the nuclear industry should be required to insure itself against accidents".

Background

Bernard "Bernie" Sanders (born September 8, 1941) is the junior Senator from Vermont. Previously, Sanders represented Vermont's at-large district in the United States House of Representatives. Sanders also served as mayor of Burlington. Sanders is a self-described democratic socialism, and has praised European social democracy. He is the first person elected to the U.S. Senate to identify as a socialist. Sanders Congressional caucus with the Democratic Party and is counted as a Democrat for the purposes of committee assignments, but because he does not belong to a formal political party, he appears as an |independent on the ballot. He was also the only independent member of the House during much of his service there.