nuclear-news

Financial and safety threats in expanding production of plutonium

Some of the intractable challenges facing the President’s Commission -and the public- include some 67,000 metric tons of highly radioactive waste in temporary storage today, the prospect of expanded production of plutonium as both a health and a national security threat, nationwide transportation of highly radioactive waste, to and from, the Savanna River Site over road, rail and waterways and the unresolved problem of finding a secure repository for the long term storage of nuclear waste.

A blue-ribbon, “nuclear” bus ride Mountain Xpress,Ned Ryan Doyle, 21 Jan 2011, How could a nuclear-energy park in South Carolina impact the people of WNC? On January 7th, a “WNC Citizen’s Delegation” chartered a bus to Augusta, GA, for the only public hearing in the Southeast held by President Obama’s appointed “Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future”………..the local business community representing the nearby Savanna River Site, for decades a nuclear materials industrial location, is lobbying for federal funding for a new, expanded nuclear program called the “SRS Energy Park”…..

In fact, this proposal could have a significant impact for WNC in particular and the nation. Some of the intractable challenges facing the President’s Commission -and the public- include some 67,000 metric tons of highly radioactive waste in temporary storage today, the prospect of expanded production of plutonium as both a health and a national security threat, nationwide transportation of highly radioactive waste, to and from, the Savanna River Site over road, rail and waterways and the unresolved problem of finding a secure repository for the long term storage of nuclear waste.

Unfortunately for WNC, a significant percentage of the nation’s high level radioactive waste moved by truck over the roadways currently would be routed via Interstate 26 and Interstate 40 corridors. Asheville would be the Nuclear Crossroads for many, if not a majority, of these shipments. Conservative estimates suggest thousands of these shipments by truck, not counting rail or waterways to the “SRS Energy Park”. Reflecting the hazards, federal guidelines currently suggest such shipments avoid high population areas, such as Charlotte and Atlanta, but tellingly- not avoiding the WNC region.

There is the ongoing question of a long term repository for high level nuclear waste…………..
Overshadowing these daunting technical and social issues is the current economic crisis we face in paying for this new nuclear proposal. Utilities, business communities and nuclear technology companies advocated openly at the hearing for billions of federal dollars and increased utility rates, since their fundamental funding problem is simple.

There’s essentially zero interest from private investors or Wall Street for nuclear technology today. The nuclear advocates are not willing to take the risk of investment themselves – without tax payer funded federal loan guarantees and/or “Construction Works In Progress” state legislative actions that force utility rate payers to cover, upfront, utilities capital investments – with very limited, or no, financial risk to a utility’s shareholders.
Citizen delegates, and speakers for non-profit, public organizations, questioned spending billions in new taxes and rate payer money on the “SRS Energy Park” proposal, considering the currently viable, affordable energy options and especially in light of our struggling economy, debt and deficits. Dozens of peer reviewed studies, some from utilities themselves, conclude the best investment for our energy future is a transition to energy efficiency and sustainable technologies, not continuing to build more expensive, centralized nuclear plants.

A blue-ribbon, “nuclear” bus ride | Blogwire | Mountain Xpress
 

January 21, 2011 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | safety, USA, wastes