Barbara Vergetis Lundin reports that at the same time that U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) has testified before nuclear regulators that more, not less, nuclear reactors are needed, groups including Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace, the Nuclear Information and Resource Service (NIRS), Public Citizen, and the Sierra Club, are making a push with a new Web initiative to shut nuclear down. Interestingly, next week marks the four-year anniversary of the Fukushima nuclear reactor disaster.
In his testimony, Alexander discussed solving the stalemate on nuclear waste, avoiding excessive regulation of nuclear plants, licensing new and existing reactors in an efficient manner, and making sure the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is running effectively as keys to unleashing nuclear power in the United States. We must solve the 25-year-old stalemate about what to do with used fuel from our nuclear reactors to ensure that nuclear power has a strong future in this country,
Alexander said at a hearing of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy & Water Development, which he chairs. But let me be clear - Yucca Mountain can and should be part of the solution. Federal law designates Yucca Mountain as the national repository for used nuclear fuel. Alexander plans to reintroduce legislation with Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and, perhaps, others to create both temporary and permanent storage sites for nuclear waste in addition to Yucca Mountain. He also plans to include a pilot program for nuclear waste storage in the subcommittee's appropriations legislation for fiscal year 2016. The green adversaries have begun a new anti-nuclear ad program that will be making much noise without substance.
Original working URL: http://www.fierceenergy.com/story/more-or-less-nuclear-reactors-nation-odds-fukushima/2015-03-06
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