Former Speaker Dennis Hastert (R.-Ill.) joined conservative bloggers this afternoon to talk about energy issues — and while here he took a swipe at Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D.-Nev.) for his “choke hold” on nuclear power plants.

Just yesterday I put forward the idea that conservatives should embrace nuclear energy as a legitimate and powerful alternative to the left’s economy-killing ideas. What I didn’t mention yesterday was the reason we’re not moving ahead with new nuclear power plants.

It comes down to one man: Harry Reid. The Nevada senator has created a road block because of his opposition to storing nuclear waste in Yucca Mountain. As Hastert explained today, the U.S. cannot move forward with new nuclear power plants until they resolve the Yucca Mountain debate.

I asked Hastert how he saw that happening as long as Reid was the most power Democrat in the Senate. Hastert said it was a good reason to target Reid. Republicans could have done that in 2004, but instead chose to give him a free pass. Now we’re stuck with him until at least 2010. Let’s just hope it doesn’t take that long to build a new nuclear power plant.