Skip to main content

Nuclear Road Trip

Larry Johnston, a writer for Florida Today, has been taking his readers on a road trip as he travels in a mobile home. Today he writes about his visit to a Canadian nuclear power plant, and it's pretty entertaining and informative.

I went to the visitor center and asked whether I could visit the facility. The receptionist told me not even the prime minister could get inside the plant. This spoiled my backup plan of pretending to be the prime minister, but also probably avoided my arrest.

The receptionist said I would have to be content with the visitor center. An interactive computer animation told me Canada has had nuclear power since 1970. I glanced at the computer next to me and was startled to see a person with a remarkably familiar face. Could that be the prime minister?

I learned about the numerous safeguards in the plant that reduce the risk of radiation leaks. I peeked over the monitor to the river outside to see whether the local geese had two heads or webbed wings. No, they looked normal.

...

It is remarkably simple, but this over-regulated industry is so politically charged as to be a stagnant energy alternative. Only about 400 nuclear power plants exist worldwide. Each one saves billion of gallons of oil each year. Our fears give comfort to the petroleum industry.
Technorati tags: , , , , , ,

Comments

Randal Leavitt said…
I'd add. "and run safely. Thousands die every year mining coal and from sicknesses caused by burning coal. The nuclear power health record is pristine in comparison."

Popular posts from this blog

An Ohio School Board Is Working to Save Nuclear Plants

Ohio faces a decision soon about its two nuclear reactors, Davis-Besse and Perry, and on Wednesday, neighbors of one of those plants issued a cry for help. The reactors’ problem is that the price of electricity they sell on the high-voltage grid is depressed, mostly because of a surplus of natural gas. And the reactors do not get any revenue for the other benefits they provide. Some of those benefits are regional – emissions-free electricity, reliability with months of fuel on-site, and diversity in case of problems or price spikes with gas or coal, state and federal payroll taxes, and national economic stimulus as the plants buy fuel, supplies and services. Some of the benefits are highly localized, including employment and property taxes. One locality is already feeling the pinch: Oak Harbor on Lake Erie, home to Davis-Besse. The town has a middle school in a building that is 106 years old, and an elementary school from the 1950s, and on May 2 was scheduled to have a referendu

Why Ex-Im Bank Board Nominations Will Turn the Page on a Dysfunctional Chapter in Washington

In our present era of political discord, could Washington agree to support an agency that creates thousands of American jobs by enabling U.S. companies of all sizes to compete in foreign markets? What if that agency generated nearly billions of dollars more in revenue than the cost of its operations and returned that money – $7 billion over the past two decades – to U.S. taxpayers? In fact, that agency, the Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank), was reauthorized by a large majority of Congress in 2015. To be sure, the matter was not without controversy. A bipartisan House coalition resorted to a rarely-used parliamentary maneuver in order to force a vote. But when Congress voted, Ex-Im Bank won a supermajority in the House and a large majority in the Senate. For almost two years, however, Ex-Im Bank has been unable to function fully because a single Senate committee chairman prevented the confirmation of nominees to its Board of Directors. Without a quorum

NEI Praises Connecticut Action in Support of Nuclear Energy

Earlier this week, Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy signed SB-1501 into law, legislation that puts nuclear energy on an equal footing with other non-emitting sources of energy in the state’s electricity marketplace. “Gov. Malloy and the state legislature deserve praise for their decision to support Dominion’s Millstone Power Station and the 1,500 Connecticut residents who work there," said NEI President and CEO Maria Korsnick. "By opening the door to Millstone having equal access to auctions open to other non-emitting sources of electricity, the state will help preserve $1.5 billion in economic activity, grid resiliency and reliability, and clean air that all residents of the state can enjoy," Korsnick said. Millstone Power Station Korsnick continued, "Connecticut is the third state to re-balance its electricity marketplace, joining New York and Illinois, which took their own legislative paths to preserving nuclear power plants in 2016. Now attention should