St. Louis Post- Dispatch - Letters to the Editor July 26, 2011
Waste still in question
While Ameren Missouri and the Fair Energy Rate Action Fund negotiate to gain consumer protection, the most critical issue goes unnoticed.
The fight in the state Legislature has been over Construction Work In Progress, a means by which Ameren can raise rates to help pay for the construction of a new nuclear plant at Callaway.
The question that must be asked: What is Ameren's plan for permanent, long-term storage of the used fuel being produced at the existing nuclear plant?
Since 1984, when the Callaway plant began, all of its used fuel has been stored on site in used fuel pools.
Spent fuel pools provide a temporary site where used fuel can be cooled sufficiently before being moved to long-term dry cask storage. Callaway does not have dry cask storage and relies on the spent fuel pools for temporary and long-term storage.
The Yucca Mountain waste repository has been scrapped because of its proximity to active earthquake faults. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has allowed reactor operators to store four times more waste in the spent fuel pools than they're designed to handle.
These are serious safety issues that are not being addressed. Ameren has no business thinking about a second plant until it can work out safe and long-term, if not permanent, storage for waste already being generated.
The residents of Missouri should demand that these safety measures be addressed before anyone talks about financing a new nuclear plant.
Anna A. Pick • Chesterfield
What's the phrase..."sing out, Louise!" You go, Annie.
ReplyDeleteVery cool, Annie. And that's my highest compliment.
ReplyDeleteThank you Ian and Keith - you are the wind beneath my wings.
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