nuclear-news

USA now has the option to turn away from nuclear energy

 the options are many. By simply eliminating the energy wasted by inefficient houses lacking proper insulation, by upgrading our appliances and taking other common sense efficiency measures, the country could cut its energy needs in half…….

 the country passed a historic milestone recently in which for the first time the cost of electricity per kilowatt generated by solar cells dropped below the cost of nuclear energy. And that is by the industry’s own measures.

Specter of nuclear waste dump returns to WNC, Macon County News, , 28 July 2011  by Christopher Carpenter “…….Nukes: Who needs ’em?  According to Olson, the country has reached a crossroad and has several big decisions to make. “Do we build more reactors? Do we shut down the ones we have? Do we keep the waste where it has been produced and where it has been kept for decades? Or do we start moving it around?”

There has not been a new nuclear reactor built in the country since the late 80s. The nation is operating a fleet of reactor that are all more than 34 years old, most built in the same era as (and a few are identical to) the reactors in Fukushima, Japan, which were involved in what some now consider the worst nuclear catastrophe in history.

Nationwide, nuclear power accounts for about 20 percent of the electricity generated. In North Carolina, it’s about 30 percent; in South Carolina, the most nuclear dependent state in the country, it accounts for more than 50 percent. The nuclear weapons complex, medical research and all other industrial applications combined generate only about 5 percent of all nuclear radiation in the country. The remaining 95 percent is a by-product of energy production.

But as Olson points out, the options are many. By simply eliminating the energy wasted by inefficient houses lacking proper insulation, by upgrading our appliances and taking other common sense efficiency measures, the country could cut its energy needs in half.

“This country could do everything we are doing today – no conservation, no giving up anything – on half the energy we are currently using,” Olson said. “Or we could run an economy twice as big.”

A serious investment in alternative, sustainable energy development would not only further shrink the pie, but would potentially transform the economy of the nation. Olson noted that the country passed a historic milestone recently in which for the first time the cost of electricity per kilowatt generated by solar cells dropped below the cost of nuclear energy. And that is by the industry’s own measures.

Indeed, nuclear power has become one of the most expensive sources of energy that exists, requiring massive mining efforts and processing to keep the reactors stocked with uranium fuel. And the externalized costs are incalculable: Billions of gallons of water used in mining and the reactor condensers; contamination of ground water; potential disasters; and the necessity of a security force to guard facilities and waste, security needs that would only increase if the country begins mass-production of plutonium.

The monster awakens … and the monster fighters

These are the things that people are beginning to recall about the antinuke movement of the ’80s – Fukushima certainly jarred some memories. In recent months, the WNC network of activists has reawakened. ……Still, there are powerful interests supporting development of the Southeast as a nuclear center and some indications that decisions at the highest levels are being made without the full knowledge of citizens. The Third Infantry Division Highway (a.k.a. I-3) network under development as part of a national homeland security policy links the entire region from the coast of Georgia to the nuclear research facility in Oakridge, Tenn., including most likely a corridor connecting the Savannah River Site and WNC….

http://www.maconnews.com/news/state–region/1372-specter-of-nuclear-waste-dump-returns-to-wnc

July 29, 2011 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | politics, USA