Nuclear plus: start with uranium, add a pinch of solar, and you have a recipe for energy success.

I recently took a fact-finding tour through the upper Midwest and Rocky Mountain region--America's rapidly emerging energy capital. My first stop was the Cooper Nuclear Station in Brownville, Nebraska. Nuclear plants aren't easy to get into these days, but Cooper is more open and receptive to publicity than most such plants. Beth Boesch, Nebraska Public Power's smart and energetic publicity director, is on the board of the Nuclear Energy Institute, and thinks utilities should be showcasing nuclear's recent successes for the public.

Cooper sits on a two-square-mile plot of farmland next to the Missouri River about 60 miles south of Omaha. Brownville has only 150 ...