Bernie Sanders has called for phasing out all U.S. nuclear power plants, which currently account for 19 percent of our electricity portfolio. Nuclear energy has plenty of problems: reactors can melt down, they are ripe targets for terrorists, they are wildly uneconomical, mining the uranium that feeds them is dangerous and environmentally destructive, and no one wants the spent fuel stored nearby. These are the reasons Sanders has long been an opponent of nuclear energy. A few decades ago, that was a widespread view on the left. But now climate change has become the main concern of many environmentalists, and nuclear energy’s saving grace is that it has virtually no carbon emissions.
Grist 28th March 2016 read more »
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo blasted the troubling conditions at the Indian Point Energy Center on Tuesday evening, announcing in a statement that hundreds of faulty bolts were found within one of its reactors.
Business Insider 29th March 2016 read more »
US nuclear power plants are joining coal plants in losing out to lower-cost natural gas and renewables for electric generation. Low gas prices have already put the brakes on a revival of US nuclear construction and are blamed for the premature retirement of reactors in four states. Owners of nuclear plants in Florida and California also decided to retire, rather than repair, damaged reactors based on future low-priced gas expectations.
Argus Media 29th March 2016 read more »