WASHINGTON — The threat of the release of highly radioactive spent fuel at a Japanese nuclear plant has revived a debate in the United States about how to manage such waste and has led to new recriminations over a derailed plan for a national repository in Nevada.
Pools holding spent fuel at nuclear plants in the United States are even more heavily loaded than those at the Japanese reactors, experts say, and are more vulnerable to some threats than the ones in Japan. However, utility companies have taken steps since the 9/11 terrorist attacks to make them safer.
Continue reading at “Japan Nuclear Crisis Revives Long U.S. Fight on Spent Fuel”.
It is impossible to calculate the megawatt hour cost of nuclear power without knowing what the disposal cost will be. For that reason alone, nuclear should be dismissed as an option for the nation’s energy future. The true costs of coal, natural gas, hydro, wind, photovoltaics, geothermal and tidal do not have this unknown cost factor. And while some of the newer sources of electricity may be deserving of taxpayer subsidy, none of them should benefit from the exemption nuclear enjoys in my homeowner insurance policy.
Frances