OPINION: WHY IS THE ALWARD GOVERNMENT AND THE NB MEDIA SO SILENT ON WHAT THE JAPAN NUCLEAR DISASTER MEANS FOR NEW BRUNSWICKERS?

Received by email today. Thanks Brook. Good points.
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THE NB GRIST MILL April 1, 2011 A New Brunswick Political Newsletter

 

WHY IS THE ALWARD GOVERNMENT AND THE NB MEDIA SO SILENT
ON WHAT THE JAPAN NUCLEAR DISASTER MEANS FOR NEW BRUNSWICKERS?

 

It would not be alarmist for our government to discuss the radiation risk potential of Point Lepreau -- it would be prudent, honest and logical -- given the global concern and the absolute game-changing repurcussions of the Japan Nuclear disaster. But it appears the Alward Government and the New Brunswick Media Community, for some reason, are avoiding this critically important issue to the New Brunswick public. Why is that?

The following (National Public Radio) story should be considered by our politicians and media from a New Brunswick perspective for the future of all New Brunswickers. It surely must give our leaders and media pause, at the very least? Perhaps they will be motivated to begin a discussion on the future of nuclear in New Brunswick? They have a responsibility, as our leaders, to talk about the future of nuclear energy in New Brunswick !

Think about this Quote from the story below: "Essentially, when you reach the Fukushima Dai-ichi stage, the question is, 'Are you prepared for things you haven't predicted?' And the answer is, 'How can you tell?' " he says. "We're certainly prepared for some things we haven't predicted, but [we're not sure] what it is we're preparing for."

Lekhaim from the Gristmill

On today's Fresh Air, New York Times energy reporter Matthew Wald joins Terry Gross for a wide-ranging conversation about the history — and future — of nuclear energy in the United States. Though storage and safety mechanisms are in place, he says, many unknown variables exist that are nearly impossible for regulators to forecast.

Listen to the story here:

http://www.npr.org/2011/03/31/134982512/the-future-of-nuclear-energy-in-the-u-s

 

The Future Of Nuclear Energy In The U.S.

March 31, 2011

Enlarge Bradley Bower/AP Photo A view of the Three Mile Island power plant near Harrisburg, Pa., site of the worst nuclear accident in U.S. history. In 1979, a reactor at the plant experienced a partial meltdown, but radioactive material never escaped
containment.

Bradley Bower/AP Photo A view of the Three Mile Island power plant near Harrisburg, Pa., site of the worst nuclear accident in U.S. history. In 1979, a reactor at the plant experienced a partial meltdown, but radioactive material never escaped containment.

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March 31, 2011

Before the Fukushima disaster, nuclear power was being rebranded as a green form of energy. But in the wake of the devastating nuclear accident that is still unfolding in Japan, many Americans are now re-evaluating the potential costs and benefits of nuclear power.
On today's Fresh Air, New York Times energy reporter Matthew Wald joins Terry Gross for a wide-ranging conversation about the history — and future — of nuclear energy in the United States. Though storage and safety mechanisms are in place, he says, many unknown variables exist that are nearly impossible for regulators to forecast.

Matt Wald in 'The New York Times'

At U.S. Nuclear Sites, Preparing For The Unlikely

No Urgent Changes Seen For U.S. Nuclear Plants

Lessons >From Fukushima Taught On Capitol Hill

"Essentially, when you reach the Fukushima Dai-ichi stage, the question is, 'Are you prepared for things you haven't predicted?' And the answer is, 'How can you tell?' " he says. "We're certainly prepared for some things we haven't predicted, but [we're not sure] what it is we're preparing for."
There are 104 nuclear power plants in the United States, which generate about 20 percent of America's energy. But figuring out what to do with the nuclear fuel they generate is a big issue — and one that hasn't been resolved for decades. When nuclear plants were designed, says Wald, regulators anticipated that spent fuel rods would sit in cooling water pools for five years and then be chemically processed and turned into plutonium.
"But that technology turned out to be financially unfeasible and Presidents Ford and Carter decided that it was not a good example for the U.S. to set, because if you're going to recover the plutonium, you can use it for bombs," he says. "So we didn't do that."
Instead, the Department of Energy had made plans to store the waste underground at Yucca Mountain in Nevada. That didn't happen either, explains Wald, because President Obama put a stop to the program, saying Yucca Mountain was not a good site to store the nuclear waste.
Instead, spent fuel rods in the U.S. are currently stored in underground pools of water or in dry-cask storage, where older fuel is put into steel cans filled with inert gas and then stored in silos.

Enlarge New York Times Matt Wald covers energy for The New York Times. He will be teaching an online class about nuclear energy from April 4-17.

New York Times

Matt Wald covers energy for The New York Times. He will be teaching an online class about nuclear energy from April 4-17.

"[Dry casks] are probably good for somewhere on order of 100 years," he says. "In that sense, it's not an urgent problem. But we don't, at this time, have a clear path forward on what to do after storage in casks."
Wald says that nuclear regulators in the United States are closely watching the situation in Japan to see what the long-term prognosis is in and around the reactors.
"If we're lucky, we're heading for a situation like Three Mile Island, in which you have a very long cleanup period in which you can remove the damaged fuel from the spent fuel pools and then, essentially, you got a reactor that can be decommissioned in the normal way," he says. "If we're not lucky, you end up in a Chernobyl-type situation where you can't get the damaged material out and you build some type of sarcophagus and then you sit there and you watch it for the next few centuries."

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