Are people in Houston crazy???
Don’t these people know that nuclear plants can have accidents? Why don’t they invite alternate energy companies to set up there instead? Is the economy so bad that they have to say yes to THIS? Egads!!!!
Neighbors welcome Texas nuke plant’s growth
HOUSTON — Despite objections from nuclear energy opponents, the proposed expansion of a Southeast Texas nuclear power plant has gotten the thumbs up from many locals, who say the project will be an economic boon.
Richard Knapik, the mayor of Bay City, about 75 miles southwest of Houston, said Tuesday’s announcement that the owners of a nearby nuclear power plant want to double its size could pump as much as $6 billion into the local economy.
“Many of our citizens already work out there,” Knapik said. “It’s been extremely positive for this area.”
It takes 14 paragraphs before the Chronicle mentions any possible negative aspects.
But not everyone is as enthusiastic.
The Sierra Club has consistently opposed the licensing, construction and operation of new nuclear reactors, in part because of concerns about industry oversight and the disposal of spent nuclear fuel.
Nuclear power is produced when neutrons split the nucleus of uranium atoms, releasing heat that’s used to boil water and produce steam that drives a plant’s turbines. For now, spent fuel — which is radioactive waste — is contained inside the plants.
Watchdog group Public Citizen called the plan to build two new reactors in Texas “deja vu all over again.”
“The U.S. has been down the nuclear power path — and it has proven to be expensive, polluting, dangerous and a security risk,” Tyson Slocum, the director of Public Citizen’s energy program said in a statement.
The organization said companies like NRG and others expected to file applications with the NRC are destined to take advantage of federal loan guarantees and other subsidies at taxpayer expense.
“Public Citizen will fight these proposed reactors every step of the way,” Slocum said. “The flaws of nuclear power — excessive cost, security threats and long-lived radioactive waste — have not been solved.”
Filed under: Activism, Featured Stories, FrecklesCassie, Nuclear Energy, Opinion, Politics
Hope you live upriver of the plant incase there is an accident and up wind too. Texas is quite sunny peak power demand is when everyone turns on their central air. Which is also when solar panels work best.
I suggest you don’t buy property anywhere near Houston one accident and the real estate market will drop like a stone.
Which is why nobody sane puts a Nuclear Plant near a major city.
Do any of the engineers have any experience building a Nuclear Plant up to American safty standards? After Three Mile Island in the late 70s they stopped building new ones although they finished building some that were under construction which used to take about 15 years.
I don’t think there is an engineering design firm in the country who has a single old timer left with the practical experience of walking steel on an American Nuke job.
Lots of things go wrong on big jobs that are not in the books.