|
Only Forty Five?
by James Glaser June 19, 2008 John McCain wants us to build 45 new nuclear power reactors. Right now there are 104 nuclear facilities operating in the United States, and they produce 20% of our electricity. We haven't built any new nuclear plants in decades because there is one big hurdle we have to get around, and that is, the by-product of all nuclear reactors, the spent fuel rods that become the most radioactive objects in the world. Right now, every reactor has a pool near by that they put their ever increasing number of fuel rods into to keep them cool. If the rods get too close together, they can set off a nuclear chain reaction, which according to nuclear scientists would be a very bad thing. Spent fuel rods will remain dangerous for thousands of years. The half-life of plutonium is 24,000 years — in other words, it would take up to 250,000 years before it degrades completely. So, today we have no answer for this ever increasing radioactive material that will be dangerous to the human race for at least tens of thousands of years. You would think that it would be a no-brainer that we should stop building these plants until we can figure out a safe way to dispose of the thousands of fuel rods we now have in temporary storage facilities. John McCain thinks of nuclear power the same way he thinks of our national debt. He is going to be dead before anything really has to be done about either problem. So, let our children or grandchildren worry about what we do today. Oh, if you think Barack Obama is the answer, well then think again. Obama, is all for new nuclear power plants, and the nuclear power industry is one of his greatest financial backers. So, what's the answer? I don't know. But since, to me, it's a no-brainer that we should not be building more nuclear power plants, then maybe the only thing to do is to elect somebody to the presidency with a brain. |
BACK to the 2008 Politics Columns.