[Vision2020] Idaho Governor Otter Asks US Energy Secretary Chu About the Future of Nuclear Energy

[Paul Rumelhart]

I wish we would make more use of nuclear energy.  If we allowed breeder reactors, we would have an almost unlimited source of fuel, and the half-life of the waste by-products would be reduced to decades instead of thousands of years.  The waste is more manageable, and the energy (as you stated) is a base-load energy source instead of a fluctuating one.  It sounds like a win-win scenario to me.

Paul

--- On Wed, 7/8/09, Ted Moffett <starbliss at gmail.com> wrote:

From: Ted Moffett <starbliss at gmail.com>
Subject: [Vision2020] Idaho Governor Otter Asks US Energy Secretary Chu About the Future of Nuclear Energy
To: "Moscow Vision 2020" <vision2020 at moscow.com>
Date: Wednesday, July 8, 2009, 12:56 PM

Info on agreement regarding transport of nuclear waste in western states:
 
http://www.westgov.org/wga/press/nuclear6-14-09.htm
 
>From link above:

The agreement was signed during the WGA’s Annual Meeting here by Gov. Brian Schweitzer, WGA’s new chairman; C.L. “Butch” Otter, incoming Vice Chairman; and Steven Chu, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Energy. It expands upon current efforts aimed at ensuring the safe and uneventful transportation of nuclear materials.

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Info on the future of nuclear energy discussed at Western Governors Association Meeting:
 
http://neinuclearnotes.blogspot.com/2009/06/meet-governors-dr-chu-goes-west.html
 
>From link above:
 
In fact, Energy Secretary Steven Chu is visiting the Western Governors Association annual meeting in Park City Utah. It’s running from the 14th to the 16th, and you can watch various sessions via streaming video.

The Governors have ideas about nuclear energy, as expressed in their Resolution 09-1: Energy Policy, Renewable Energy and Transmission for the West :

Nuclear energy currently provides 20 percent of the nation’s electricity and 10 percent of the electricity within the WGA states. Nuclear energy is a baseload source of electricity and does not produce greenhouse gases, ozone, haze, or mercury. For new nuclear power facilities to be built, a range of issues associated with cost, safety, waste disposal, nonproliferation, and natural resource requirements must be taken into consideration and properly addressed.

And they’d really like those issues to find resolution, as indicated in this report:
 
http://kcpw.org/article/7954

Idaho Governor "Butch" Otter then asked Secretary Chu about the future of nuclear energy, another technology that some are looking to develop in Utah. Chu responded that nuclear energy has to be part of the nation's energy future, and said the administration wants to revive the industry, after it essentially came to a halt 30 years ago, when the Three Mile Island accident occurred.

"We're trying to help. We have some loan guarantee money that will help three, possibly four reactors get going. We need to get more than that going, for sure," said Chu. "We also want to do research in more advanced designs of reactors."

 
 
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Vision2020 Post: Ted Moffett

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