Jay Nixon: Spokesperson for Ameren or the People of Missouri?

Missouri's governor, Jay Nixon, has been offering up a lot of Kool-Aid for the people of Missouri lately. I know its been hot, but beware of the public relations blitz that is coming out of the governor's office.


While we all love baby kittens and puppies, 'cus they are so gosh darn cute, beware of these cute little mini-reactors that are being offered up as the savior to Missouri economic dilemma. They are still nuclear reactors with the same old-let's-not-talk-about-this-problem -- spent nuclear fuel.


These new small reactors would produce about 225 megawatts of electricity, but wait...Ameren-Westinghouse says their plans are to build FIVE of these cute little kittens, by my math that equals 1125 MWe. The current Callaway Plant #1 is 1236 MWe, voila Ameren has just accomplished the "second" power plant that it has been trying to get the ratepayers to pay for all this time.


I love this from Rudi Keller's article in The Columbia Daily Tribune today: "With the federal government ready to invest $452 million in the development of the reactors, taxpayers will subsidize much of the cost of the first reactors. Ameren Missouri and Westinghouse have made a joint application for a share of that money to develop the reactors for installation in Callaway County."


Many of the same people screaming about the bailout of the auto industry and Wall Street are quite silent on this subject but we need to remember this is going to be funded by taxpayers. 


But I digress - let's get back to the same old thing I keep harping about and that is: What is going to be done about the permanent storage of spent fuel? Do we want to talk to the residents of Missouri about how they feel about being the long-term storage site for Callaway's spent fuel?


The Department of Energy tried to get Nevada to be home of all this spent fuel and someone said, "HALT." So the 104 nuclear reactors in the United States are becoming 104 long-term spent fuel storage sites. Don't scream "NOT IN MY BACKYARD" because that is exactly where the spent fuel is being stored, for now and evermore, quoth the raven.


"Care for another refreshing glass of Kool-Air my dear?" No thanks, governor, I think I will just stick to water.