The reason I was heading to the capital was that Northern States Power (the then owner of Prairie Island) wanted to store nuclear waste outside their facility. Their holding area inside was

There is a push right now for more nuclear power as a solution to global warming. Even if we assume we can safely run a nuclear power plant (which is a big if) we still have the problem of how do we safely store the radioactive waste for millions of years. Modern humans only evolved somewhere between 250,000 and 400,000 years ago. Isn't it arrogant to think we can safely store something for millions of years?
The point is moot however because we have already generated huge quantities of highly radioactive fuel waste and it needs to be stored. I'm still not convinced storing high level radioactive waste ON AN ISLAND in the Mississippi, a river that has moved and meandered hundreds of times since it was created, is a good plan. Heck, as little as 10,000 years ago the Prairie Island site was under a mile of ice when glaciers covered Minnesota. I'm interested to see if the law can be changed so that commercial waste can be stored in the WIPP.
Until we have a long term storage plan in this country, nuclear waste will continue to be stored on-site which is just asking for trouble.
I remember talking to my representative at the time and proposing that we instead store the waste in dry casks under the water tower down the street (my representative lived a couple of blocks away.) If it was really so safe we had nothing to fear. He clearly didn't want it in his back yard but he had no problem putting it in someone elses.
Once again, the final decision on whether or not they can store more waste on site will be made by the legislature. Last time around we used it as a bargaining chip for more renewable energy in the state. Lets make sure our legislators do the work of the people and get something in return for the devil's bargain proposed by Xcel.
(photo credit- Prairie Island Plant: Jonathunder)
(photo credit- Dry Cask Storage: Nuclear Regulatory Commission)
1 comments:
So contact your legislators:
http://www.leg.state.mn.us/leg/faq/faqtoc.asp?id=47
Is there a better action that we should all be taking right now to have an affect on this...or at the VERY least bring this into the forefront? When are the protests starting this time?
Why can't I find any groups taking immediate action on this?!
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