Purdue professor raises caution about nuclear energy via The Exponent

By CURTIS SPICER City EditorThere has been a lack of public discussion about nuclear energy especially since two new reactors will be housed in a new plant in Georgia, according to a Purdue professor.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission approved the plant in a four to one vote on Feb. 9. It is the first plant to be approved since 1978. The single vote against the proposal belonged to chairman of the commission, Gregory Jaczko. Jaczko cited last year’s March meltdown of Fukushima Daiichi’s reactors in Japan as a caution to acknowledge before constructing new plants.

Daniel Aldrich, a Purdue associate professor of political science who has studied how sites are selected for controversial buildings such as nuclear reactors and airports, said Jaczko’s vote was a clear sign that not everyone agrees on continuing with nuclear energy in it’s current state.

“If there is a storm or earthquake, we could have the same problem as Japan,” Aldrich said. “There are 23 reactors in America with the exact same design as Fukushima.”

The reactor is the General Electric Mark I, which Aldrich calls a “workhorse of the 1960s.”

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