Like a House bill introduced last month, the new Senate proposal adds nuclear power to the state’s Alternative Energy Portfolio Standard.

Yuji Onuma was the pride of Futaba, Japan as a 12-year-old, when he won a town slogan contest by praising nuclear power. But eight years after the meltdown, Futaba is deserted and Onuma no longer believes in nuclear energy. ‘I’m glad that I realized my mistake before I died,’ he says.

Respondents generally support nuclear as part of the state’s energy mix. But when it comes to the government acting to help out the industry, they aren’t so sure.

In the absence of a long-term solution, the country’s nuclear power plants are left with one option: indefinite on-site storage.

“We had a dream and a few pieces of paper and convinced them that we could solve the problem,” one team member recalled.

The memo is a first step toward introducing legislation to bail out Pennsylvania’s nuclear power industry, and provides the first look at what a proposal might contain.