Sioux Center, Iowa — Michael Franken, the Democrat running against Republican Senator Chuck Grassley, says American ingenuity is the answer to the country’s energy challenges. Franken, a retired admiral, says his experience in the Navy indicates nuclear power can be an option.
Franken says a small nuclear reactor, about the size of a house, with a core-life of 30 years could be managed by a very small staff and used to power small to medium-sized cities. Franken says Iowa could make more use of solar power as well.
Franken says other countries, like Portugal, get a good share of their electricity from solar power.
Franken made his comments this past weekend while campaigning in Sioux Center, which is about 10 miles east of his birthplace in the small Sioux County town of Lebanon.
