Nuclear opponents and MidAmerican Energy Co. tussled yesterday over the fate of a nuclear power in Iowa through television ads that pit safety fears against the need for different types of energy.

Anti-nuclear Friends of the Earth ran a 30-second ad that showed explosions at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant that erupted one year ago after the facility was crippled by a magnitude-9 earthquake and tsunami. A narrator ominously explains that the accident shows "nuclear power is dangerous and costly."

The ad goes on to blast MidAmerican Energy for trying to build new reactors in Iowa and recouping that projects' costs through ratepayers.

"Investors won't take the risk, so MidAmerican wants you to foot the bill," the narrator says. "What's worse, they'd keep the money, even if they abandoned the project."

The Washington, D.C.-based group hopes to stymie any support for legislation currently before the Iowa Legislature that would allow MidAmerican and other utilities to explore construction of nuclear power plants.

The bill would allow the Iowa Utilities Board to authorize a company to explore "the construction of a next-generation nuclear facility," according to an Iowa House Republican research document. The legislation passed the Iowa House with bipartisan support last year and is currently with the Senate Commerce Committee, where it must be approved before it is taken up by the full Senate.

The measure has also attracted the ire of the AARP and the Sierra Club.

MidAmerican says anti-nuclear groups and others are mischaracterizing what the legislation would do and how safe nuclear power plants are.

In a counter ad also launched yesterday, William Fehrman, president and CEO of MidAmerican Energy, touted the company's proven track record of investing in renewables and clean energy sources and said the legislation would simply allow the company to explore new nuclear options.

"A lot of people, and special interest groups, are commenting on this legislation and nuclear energy in general," he said. "There's a lot of misinformation about what this bill means."

Fehrman said the bill does not authorize the company to operate or construct a reactor or "charge any cost for a plant to our customers." The bill does, however, allow the Iowa Utilities Board to approve a nuclear power plant in Iowa and determine through hearings how the cost of those projects will affect ratepayers, according to MidAmerican.

"Until the Iowa Utilities Board issues an order, MidAmerican Energy cannot start charging customers for a nuclear facility," the company said.

The legislation has the "strongest consumer protections of any enacted energy legislation," and the company won't seek to recoup funding from ratepayers until the project -- which has yet to be determined -- is approved by federal regulators, Fehrman said.

But Mike Carberry, director of Green State Solutions, an Iowa-based consulting firm specializing in environmental issues, called the bill a "raw deal" for Iowans, the majority of whom oppose nuclear power.

Although the measure has garnered strong support, some lawmakers "who don't want to face the polls in November" do oppose the legislation, he said.