It's Time To Go Nuclear
Fairfield Daily RepublicIt's time to go nuclear
The Other Side By Kelvin Wade April 08, 2010
With the tragic deaths of the miners in West Virginia this week and the realization that coal provides 50 percent of our electrical power in America, perhaps it's time we consider giving nuclear power a larger role in our energy policy.
France has 58 nuclear power plants that supply 76 percent of its electric power. When OPEC quadrupled oil prices in 1973, the French, who used oil as their primary energy source, moved to nuclear power to make themselves more self-sufficient.
Now in the U.S. when someone mentions nuclear power, we think, 'Three Mile Island.' Our national nuclear hysteria began on March 28, 1979, when the Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station near Middletown, Pa., suffered a partial core meltdown. It didn't help that 'The China Syndrome,' a movie depicting a nuclear meltdown, was released barely two weeks before the incident.
No one was killed at Three Mile Island. Several epidemiological studies have been done and the consensus is there's been no increase of cancers or other diseases within a 10-mile radius of TMI. Never mind that we soak up more radiation during an X-ray than living next door to a nuclear power plant.
Still, we haven't built a new reactor since 1979.
Why has this fear persisted? We haven't done this with other accidents. We lost the Space Shuttle Challenger in January 1986 in a spectacular disaster. NASA built the Endeavour to replace it. In 2003, when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated upon reentry to the earth's atmosphere, killing all seven astronauts aboard, we didn't scrap the program. In fact, as you read this, the Space Shuttle Discovery is 220 miles above the earth.
About 40 percent of the U.S. Navy's ships and submarines are nuclear powered. The Navy has amassed more than 5,400 accident free 'reactor years.' We also have 104 nuclear power generating stations that provide 20 percent of the electricity in the country. We've demonstrated for decades the ability to use nuclear power safely.
Critics say that nuclear power plants are too expensive. President Obama answered that by providing federal loans to build the first two plants in more than 30 years in Georgia.
But what about nuclear waste? France recycles its waste, extracting the useful energy and burying the rest. President Obama has appointed former Democratic Congressman Lee Hamilton and former Republican National Security Adviser Brent Scowcroft to study the issue. But a geologic repository, burying the waste deep within the earth is the soundest solution.
Is it 100 percent safe? No. But we know that coal mining isn't safe. How safe are oil refineries? In 1997, an enormous explosion at the Tosco refinery in Martinez, which I could feel at my house in Fairfield, killed one person and injured 46. Since then, there's been more than three dozen incidents at refineries in Costa Contra County alone.
High energy costs appear to have nudged the American public along as a Gallup poll released last month shows 62 percent of us now favor nuclear power.
To be sure our energy needs cannot be addressed solely by atomic power. Wind, solar and other renewable energy technologies are all part of the answer.
France seized control of its energy future decades ago. What are we doing? Peace.
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NOTES: I know many people hate nuclear power. They're afraid of a meltdown. That's a legitimate fear. But we've operated over a hundred plants since Three Mile Island with no meltdowns. And don't bring up Chernobyl. We're not using horrible Soviet era technology. Some are afraid of terrorism but in my world, Muhammad the Terrorist doesn't get a vote on what we do energy-wise.
I'm all for alternative power. Wind, solar...I'm for renewable energy. It would be great if we could emulate Brazil with what they've done with sugar. But we've got to do something. Nuclear power is something we do well. It doesn't pollute the atmosphere. No C02 emissions. We should at least be willing to explore this as an option.
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