Wake-Up Call: Escape from Yucca Mountain

• The environmentalists really don't know anything about nuclear power if they are against it. The biggest reason there is so much (which is still minute compared to the greenhouse emmisions of fossil fuels) nuclear waste is because of a Cold War era law that power companies in the US cannot recycle spent nuclear fuel. If that were to happen, the ultimate leftovers would have a tiny half life. Either way, nuclear waste in one location is much better than coal and gas fumes in the air. I support Yucca Mountain (or a similar site) for that reason. Nuclear power is not finite and is much better for the environment than what people are doing now. It is worth a few billion dollars (or $13) to save the planet.

• Of the $13.5 billion that has been spent on Yucca Mt., a very small percentage of this $$ has been taxpayer money, the rest has come from the Nuclear Waste Fund. Every utility with a nuclear power plant has charged its customers to pay for the nuclear waste cleanup since 1982. For every kilowatt-hour used, consumers of nuclear generated electricity contribute one-tenth of a cent into the waste fund -- about $750 million per year. This fund has been as high as $24 BILLION in the past few years. The funds sit in The Nuclear Waste Fund � it�s a lot of money, and yes it serves as an offset for the federal deficit. So that�s $16 billion in funds from utility consumers, not taxes, that sits while the federal government fails to live up to its responsibilities under the Nuclear Waste Policy Act. If nothing is done, expect the state PUC�s to start suing the feds to get their citizen�s money back. Colorado pays into the Nuclear Waste Fund too.

TotalComments: 2