Over the past few weeks, we've been pointing to news concerning California State Assemblyman Chuck DeVore's efforts to get the state to overturn its long-standing moratorium against new nuclear build. Now we're beginning to see some bloggers stand up and support it, like Brian Wang and Kirk Sorensen.
Ohio faces a decision soon about its two nuclear reactors, Davis-Besse and Perry, and on Wednesday, neighbors of one of those plants issued a cry for help. The reactors’ problem is that the price of electricity they sell on the high-voltage grid is depressed, mostly because of a surplus of natural gas. And the reactors do not get any revenue for the other benefits they provide. Some of those benefits are regional – emissions-free electricity, reliability with months of fuel on-site, and diversity in case of problems or price spikes with gas or coal, state and federal payroll taxes, and national economic stimulus as the plants buy fuel, supplies and services. Some of the benefits are highly localized, including employment and property taxes. One locality is already feeling the pinch: Oak Harbor on Lake Erie, home to Davis-Besse. The town has a middle school in a building that is 106 years old, and an elementary school from the 1950s, and on May 2 was scheduled to have a referendu
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http://djysrv.blogspot.com/2007/03/us-nuclear-plants-next-stop-india.html
AB 719 (Devore) which would have struck down the State of California's long standing ban on new reactor construction until there is a permanent nuclear waste management plant is developed died in the California State Assembly's Natural Resource Committee on April 16, 2007.
Committee chairwoman Loni Hancock is quoted as saying that "the federal waste disposal program has been plagued with technical and legal challenges, managerial problems, licensing delays, persistent weaknesses in quality assurance for the program, and increasing costs."
The Devore bill claimed to address the need to reduce carbon dioxide emissions to curb global warming. According to the California Energy Commission, the most significant reductions in CO2 emissions from electricity generation can be achieved through energy efficiency programs and integrating renewable energy resources -- solar, wind, thermal, biomass and hydropower-- into electricity supplies.
gunter, nirs