FORT COLLINS, Colo., Nov 19, 2007 -- UPI

One of two projects designed to produce zero-carbon energy in a Colorado community is dividing residents because of its reliance on nuclear components.

The projects dividing Fort Collins, Colo., residents involve a solar-powered project and a uranium mine, The New York Times reported Monday. Observers said the two projects highlight the tough decisions green-minded cities are likely to confront in years to come.

The solar project, called AVA Solar, would use a manufacturing process developed at Colorado State University to make panels for electricity generation using cadmium -- a hazardous metal linked to cancer -- as part of the industrial process.

But residents and lawmakers have united to express concern about the mine project, which would drill through part of an aquifer using state-of-the-art drilling technology to extract fuel for nuclear-generated electricity.

"I think nuclear needs to be on the table and we need to work through this thing and we can't just emotionally react to it," Dan Bihn an electrical engineer and environmental consultant who sits on the Fort Collins Electric Utilities Board, told the Times.

But personally, "Deep down inside, my emotional reaction is that we should never do this," Bihn said.

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