In its plan for addressing global warming, the task force voted to include a recommendation to modify the nuclear plant moratorium. The modification would permit new nuclear plants to be considered as an option to meet the state's long-term energy needs.

The task force deserves credit for taking on the controversial topic of nuclear energy. In contrast, a group of 12 Midwest governors, including Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle, decided nuclear power was too politically charged to include in an energy policy agreement last year.

Wisconsin is already home to three nuclear reactors. But after those reactors were built, the Legislature barred approval of another nuclear plant until there is a facility with capacity to store spent nuclear fuel from all nuclear plants in the state. The law is, in effect, a moratorium.

The task force recommended lowering the barrier, requiring only that any plant have a reasonable, stringent and economical waste disposal plan.

The task force also added some regulatory hurdles for any new nuclear plant. But the recommendation to lower the initial barrier is a breakthrough that lawmakers should use as their signal to end the moratorium, just as the Legislature's own special committee on nuclear power recommended in 2007.

Nuclear power is no magic solution to energy problems. The high cost of plant construction and questions about long-term waste disposal are drawbacks.

The task force correctly identified conservation and energy efficiency, which can reduce the demand for new power plants, as the state's top priorities. Renewable wind power and biomass are also promising power sources.

But conservation, efficiency and renewables are unlikely to be sufficient answers for a growing demand for electricity. Nuclear power offers the important advantage of being free of most air pollution, including mercury and the greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming. And nuclear fuel is cheap.

With growing concern about global warming, greater confidence in nuclear safety and more favorable cost comparisons, it makes sense to consider nuclear power as an option.