COLUMBIA --- Most politicians talk about the energy "toolbox" and how it's best to consider all of its tools, such as wind, solar, nuclear and hydrogen power.

Rep. Gresham Barrett, the Republican representing the 3rd Congressional District, and his Democratic challenger, Jane Dyer, are no different. Although both see an increasing role for nuclear energy in the state and the country's energy future, however, Mr. Barrett stresses its benefits and Ms. Dyer cautions that managing nuclear waste continues to be a challenge.

"Nuclear is No. 1," as Mr. Barrett sees it.

He said he lives less than 20 miles from a handful of reactors near Oconee.

"It's one of the best run, safest plants, if not the safest, in the nation or the world."

He said he plans to keep pushing for South Carolina to become energy independent with a plan called the Palmetto Project.

"We have to use the technologies we have today, like coal, oil, gas, and use those as bridges to plug-in cars, to nuclear, to solar. ... That is much more efficient," he said. "Solar, wind, renewables, those are a part of the mix. But the commercial technology is not quite there yet."

Ms. Dyer says she would bring something to Washington that has been missing during the energy debates: "level-headedness" and "real problem-solving techniques."

Congress allowed the decades-long ban on offshore drilling to lapse at the end of September. Even before then, the prospect of offshore drilling sidetracked the national energy debate, Ms. Dyer said.

She says she supports nuclear energy but thinks the process should be scrutinized.

"We are big providers of nuclear energy, which I think is great," she said. "But we need to be very concerned about the nuclear waste and come up with a solution."