Saturday, February 20, 2010

A NUCLEAR ENERGY UPDATE

United States Secretary of Energy Steven Chu and President Obama announced this week funding for the construction of a new nuclear power plant in Georgia.  This facility will be the first nuclear power plant in the United States to be built in thirty years!
Environmental activists do not often support nuclear energy, but this plan may be a step in the right direction—a direction away from fossil fuels.  Remember that nuclear energy results in no carbon emissions!  This new power plant will cut carbon pollution by 16 million tons each year when compared to a coal-fired power plant.

However, the one major problem still to be solved with this type of power is how to get rid of nuclear waste.   President Obama says we must “accelerate our efforts to find ways of storing this waste safely and disposing of it.”  Secretary Chu has said that he is “convinced that the nuclear waste issue is solvable” and has talked about ways that nuclear waste can someday be recycled.

More information on Nobel-prize winning Energy Secretary Steven Chu to follow!

1 comment:

  1. This is excellent news!

    Actually, Maggie, the problem of the disposal of nuclear waste may not be that big of a problem for long. Did you know that France has found a way to actually reuse the waste by reprocessing the spent fuel rods? If we work at improving our nuclear technology is the US, we can develop safer and more efficient facilities and cleaner ways of disposing and recycling the waste!

    ReplyDelete

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