Obama's war on energy
First coal is demonised. Now they are going after nuke.
From
CNN Money:
Nuclear waste issues freeze permits for U.S. power plants
The U.S. government said it will stop issuing permits for new nuclear power plants and license extensions for existing facilities until it resolves issues around storing radioactive waste.
The government's main watchdog, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, believes that current storage plans are safe and achievable. But a federal court said that the NRC didn't detail what the environmental consequences would be if the agency is wrong.
"We are now considering all available options for resolving the waste issue," the five-member NRC said in a ruling earlier this week. "But, in recognition of our duties under the law, we will not issue [reactor] licenses until the court's remand is appropriately addressed."
There are 14 reactors awaiting license renewals at the NRC, and an additional 16 reactors awaiting permits for new construction.
So there goes 18% of our generating capacity. Cheap, clean and accident-free. We have
Yucca Mountain. We have
breeder reactors that can burn up the waste as fuel. We have Jimmy (spit) Carter to thank for shutting down our
reprocessing capability.
There is something not well known with big industrial operations -- once they are shut down, it is sometimes impossible to start them back up again. If we lose this, we are in for a real price spike in almost every commodity.
The 2012 election is less than 90 days away -- we need to move back from the edge of the abyss and not follow our European friends down the rat-hole.
Posted by DaveH at August 9, 2012 7:29 PM