8 Comments

  1. If there is any kind of deity, may s/he bless you and your family for your diligence, insight and courage. Great comment.

  2. Rod,
    Your letter’s reference to “waste confidence” and opposition to Yucca Mountain brings to mind a rather simple medium-term solution to Spent Nuclear Fuel in the US. The SNF is a superior fuel to unenriched Uranium and could be used in a CANDU reactor. The process to transform spent LWR fuel into fuel for a CANDU could be very simple — involving absolutely NO “reprocessing” step.
    The availability in the US of “free” fuel for CANDU reactors, the geographical proximity of the US and Canada, the political interest in moving SNF out of the US (even if it is for 40 years or so for use and cool down), and just plain old common sense begs the question: “Why not” (especially as DUPIC fuel concepts have been around for decades).
    I know that you are good at looking at these matters by asking the question: “Who benefits?” and the only answer I can give to that is: “Uranium mining companies.”

    1. @Cpragman

      It’s not just you. Moderation at Morning Consult might be slow because of the holiday weekend. It is also quite possible that my comment was rejected for any number of reasons, including being too long. I don’t take that personally, I don’t see any comments attached to the article on which I submitted my comment.

      The fact that others might not publish what I compose is one of the reasons that I often share my submitted comments here. The practice also gives me a searchable record here of comments that I have submitted elsewhere and allows me to control their longevity on the web. (I’m a packrat; nearly every post I have ever written is still freely available through the Archive page and via search.)

  3. The list of congressmen from each state on the various energy committees is interesting. The more I read and learn about how these committees work, the less I like what I see. Being on active duty currently and knowing many college classmates, friends, and fellow soldiers that need quality healthcare, I have paid some attention to the current disaster that is the VA healthcare system. I found an article recently that did a fantastic job of linking the access to lobbyists and campaign cash to committee assignments. One does not need a very creative mind to imagine that campaign money, much more so that good science, is a big reason why our energy policy is what it is.

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/04/va-scandal_n_5446977.html

    1. “One does not need a very creative mind to imagine that campaign money, much more so that good science, is a big reason why our energy policy is what it is”

      Just energy policies? Its my contention that the corruption you describe is woven through the fabric of all our policies, domestic and foreign. Both parties are in the pockets of special interests, and it is a corruption one must indulge in if aspiring to high office. It is not unreasonable to state that special interests, through their powerful lobbying machines, have more power than the ballot box does. And often, such as in the case of energy policy, or especially foreign policy, these special interests lobby successfully for policies that go AGAINST our national best interests.

  4. A must read for pro-nukers:

    http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/no-longer-the-darling-of-the-green-movement-lovelock-explains-himself/article19571394/

    A propetic article on a man that Greens are trying to label as a dottering has-been. One of his best lines is laced with disbelief and anguish:

    “…I asked representatives of the nuclear industry why they didn’t have full-page advertisements about the safety of nuclear energy, because they have good evidence for it. And they said, “We’d love to, but we are really only a cottage industry and we don’t have the money.”

    The whole nuclear community hasn’t the bucks for Ads that Puppy Rescue and taxi companies and pizza joints regularly do.

    Please!

    Don’t deserve to go extinct!

    James Greenidge
    Queens NY

  5. I’ve been known to tell people that my political position on energy is based on the fact that I live downwind from a 2200 MW atomic powerplant, & upwind from a 1187 MW lignite burner — and daily thank God that it’s not the other way around!

    And, no, the upcoming conversion to burn Wyoming coal doesn’t make things better. There’s already a hundred-car train going past my house every day on its way Southward, & the equivalent empty train coming Northward. That traffic ensures poor on-time performance by the railways, which means that valuable freight goes by truck rather than rail, leading to road traffic congestion, delays, increased fuel cost, air pollution, injury & fatal accidents, lost work, & radiation exposure from medical radiographs.

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