Returned to Greenfield Status

Images of nature with Greensleeves performed by David Nevue.

Greenfield Status ~

Tuesday night at the debate I heard this statement by the Ameren Missouri representative: "We have twelve reactors (in the US) that have been returned to Greenfield Status."

For a minute I had a 'Calgon take me away moment' where I saw fields of green, dotted with an abundance of white daisies where once there stood a stoney grey nuclear reactor. Birds chirped, the sun sparkled on a pristine clear water lake and children laughed and played...

Then I was quickly jolted back to reality and jotted down a note to follow up on this factoid that had taken me away to Never-land.

The actual definition of Greenfield Status/Green Field is:

  

Greenfield status is a term used to describe an end point wherein a parcel of land that had been in industrial use is, in principle, restored to the conditions existing before the construction of the plant. 

One thing I am learning is that when it comes to nuclear energy the choice of words is very important, you learn to listen very carefully to what is being said. While Ameren is correct when it states that the number of reactors is twelve, I found that even the NRC does not use the term "greenfield" instead their terms are seven reactors with SAFESTOR status and five with DECON status.

Now you have to admit that neither word,  SAFESTOR or DECON, has that same Calgonesque  feel to it.

It's imperative that we check out facts (even mine) and that we learn to listen. Snake oil salesmen are everywhere, only the name has been changed.