Nuclear Energy - Screwing US Taxpayers Behind The Scenes
We already know that Senator McCain and ex-Fed Chairman Greenspan have publicly proclaimed their support for expanding nuclear power as a key means of reducing the US' carbon footprint. But, do they like the looks of the largely-hidden bill for nuclear waste management, or non-management as it were?
Will debate moderators have the guts to ask about this bill come due on nationally televised debates? The odds on answer:- nothing to see here taxpayers...move along.
After all, if they've consistently refused to ask the candidates about climate change, they certainly won't have the intellectual honesty to ask about this.
Forgotten but not gone, the waste from more than 100 nuclear reactors that the federal government was supposed to start accepting for burial 10 years ago is still at the reactor sites, at least 20 years behind schedule. But it is making itself felt in the federal budget.
Each circle entombs a nuclear waste canister near Aiken, S.C.(pictured).
With court orders and settlements, the federal government has already paid the utilities $342 million, but is virtually certain to pay a total of at least $7 billion in the next few years and probably over $11 billion, government officials said. The industry said the total could reach $35 billion.
Fair disclosure: this writer worked on nuclear power plant siting studies in the the early 1970's. So, yes, this amounts to something of a guilt driven taunting.
Kudos to New York Times for having the temerity to lay out the truth, far enough in advance of this fall's election to let citizens ask their elected officials what their respective stands are.
Via::New York Times, "As Nuclear Waste Languishes, Expense to U.S. Rises" Image credit::ibid