Nuclear power

It seems that the general reaction to new nuclear power plants in this country is "not in my back yard". I would welcome a nuclear power plant in Mississippi. New jobs, new tax revenue, etc., and more energy production without the use of other fuels, ie, coal, natural gas, etc. What would be the chances of this?

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Permalink Reply by George J Abbott on July 18, 2008 at 2:22pm: Ms Doggett I too am very much in favor of nuclear power plant expansion, construction, etc. Can we ever be free of fossil fuels - I think that is not realistic ( at least in my lifetime) but I can not begin to understand why we as a nation can not use all forms - drill and refine our own oil (off shore, on shore, shale), mine and burn coal, drill and utilize natural gas and expand nuclear power capabilities. DO IT ALL!! We have the technology to do it all evnvironmentally safe. Not in my backyard - get over it! The East Coast States say it will harm or destroy tourism along their pristine beaches if rigs are visible from the beach. No. 1: on the clearest of days no one can see beyond 25 miles from shore. No 2: You can see rigs in the Pacific from theCoast Highway and beaches and CA has some of the most expensive real estate and extraordinary tourism along its coast and beaches. Does anyone remember 35 years bago when we pumped gas on odd/even days and waited in line to do so? All the measures that were kicked around then were knocked down because it would be 10 to 20 years before any of the measures put forth then would pay off. Which means we could have been free of Middle East oil going on 15 years!! What a concept!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Ray Clary on July 22, 2008 at 8:32pm: Claudia --

The main problem with nuclear power in the U. S. today is that most people learned about nuclear power from the two bombs we dropped on Japan to end World War II. Most folks look at the reactors at nuclear plants as potential atom bombs that could explode with catastrophic consequences. If we are going to see a resurgence of nuclear power any time soon the public must be educated to the fact that the purity of the fissionable material in power plant reactors is about 1/30 that required for a nuclear weapon. It is not possible for the material in a nuclear power plant to explode. Once the public understands that fact, coupled with education on the absolute safety of those plants, the NIMBY attitude will fade and we can move forward with weaning ourselves from fossil fuel for electricity generation.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Bettye Thomas on July 22, 2008 at 9:19pm: I thought Entergy wanted to expand their nuclear plant in Port Gibson, MS. Other than that I have not heard about any new nuclear plants in MS.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Nathan Crawford on July 29, 2008 at 12:05pm: I haven't heard of a new plant in MS either. Even if new plants are authorized, any firm wanting to build a new plant here would face an uphill battle against the public perception of the event of 3-Mile Island in New York.

As far as real concerns, the public does have to worry about waste disposal. Event though there are no storage facilities of any size here in MS, people in places such as Nevada would be the ones who have to deal with it. On top of the environmental concerns there is the taxpayer cost of safely storing/transporting the waste or the potential security issues such as terrorism.

The silver lining to this cloud of waste disposal, fortunately, is on the horizon. Work is presently being performed at Argonne National Loaboratory to create recycling technologies that could potentially reduce the nuclear waste produced in this country by nearly 70% ( please feel free to confirm this figuer as I am recalling what I have heard off the top of my head). If more of the American public knew of this recycling technology as well as the incredible track record of our present facilities, maybe nuclear power wouldn't be so scary to everyone.; ▶ Reply to This