The nuclear Option

Wall Street Journal ^ | May 12, 2005 | Gary Becker

[yoe]

Ever since the meltdown at Three Mile Island in 1979, effectively no new nuclear plants have been licensed by the U.S. However, it is now recognized that the safety measures at this plant worked, so that only a very small amount of radiation was released into the atmosphere, and this had no apparent harmful effects on health. The excellent safety record at American nuclear plants, growing imports of oil, natural gas, and other fossil fuels at high prices, and increased concern over the pollution and global warming caused by fossil fuels, has made the case for reducing regulatory obstacles to new American nuclear power plants compelling.

Even though no U.S. nuclear plants have been started for 25 years, old plants have raised output much closer to their capacity. As a result, nuclear power currently supplies about 20% of all electricity generated in the U.S. Yet this is much smaller than the 70% supplied by nuclear power in France, one-third in Japan, and about half in that highly improbable country, Sweden.

[yoe]

This is not a piece about Bill Frist and judges. This is a must read.

[mvpel]

Next time, try a search - this article was posted three hours ago.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1401600/posts - it has 27 replies and nearly 300 views.

[massgopguy]

I didn't see any one glow after drinking a Rolling Rock. (LaTrobe PA) Right downstream.

[Young Werther]

The "China Syndrome" was a blast at the US Nuclear Power Industry by our Hollywierd (note Spelberging!) enviromental wackos.

I believe that Chernobyl was a contributing factor to the fall of the Soviet Empire. Their vaunted scientific community screwed the pooch big time and reindeer in Sweden were "glowing" and had to be destroyed.

Pass mah "Rollin' Rock" bitte. Danke!

[Phyto Chems]

safety measures at this plant worked, so that only a very small amount of radiation was released into the atmosphere,

This is a LIE, NO radiation leaked at 3 mile Island.

[Phyto Chems]

That thread has been pulled....

[paul_fromatlanta]

>> This is a LIE, NO radiation leaked at 3 mile Island.<<

That's not accurate.

In a nutshell...

Secondary cooling problems caused the core to overheat.
The cladding around some of the fuel pellets ruptured.
A radioactive hydrogen bubble formed.
43,000 curies of radioactive krypton were vented.

The 2,000,000 people closest to Three mile island received about 1 millirem. A chest X-Ray is about 6 millirems.

Maximum civilian exposure was about 100 millirems approximately equal to an extra year's exposure.

Disclaimer: I am pro-nuclear. I support fission reactors, breeder reactors and research on fusion reactors. I support President Bush's intuitive for federal guarantees of insurance to allow nuclear construction to resume.

[paul_fromatlanta]

I thought this was really encouraging

In anticipation of a nuclear revival, Westinghouse and rival General Electric have teamed up with power companies to form the NuStart Consortium, which has applied for building permits near existing plants in Virginia, Illinois and Mississippi.

I'd like to think it's really gonna happen this time. http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/business/articles/timid400092?source=This%20is%20Money#