Nuclear power plants an answer to jobs, foreign oil dependence
Published 7:24 pm Monday, April 27, 2009
By Staff
In his radio address on April 25, President Obama asked for suggestions on how to cut the budget.
Mr. President: I have one.
This suggestion not only provides jobs, which are one of the main concerns for major budget expenditures, but also retains many of the funds going to the Middle East by way of expenditures for fossil fuels.
My suggestion involves no carbon emissions, either, and less radiation than from burning coal. My suggestion: atomic power plants.
Right now the U.S. is producing 20 percent of its electricity from 104 atomic power plants with no carbon emissions.
Seventy percent of our non-carbon producing power is atomic. We power much of our navy with atomic power without incident.
Thirty years after Three Mile Island, not a single nuclear accident has occurred within the United States.
Not one person has died or been injured or been subjected to emissions or been endangered.
During the building of the Cook Nuclear Plant in Stevensville, those of us old enough to remember can recall the many jobs available in the area for many years.
We need those jobs, we need the power, and we do not need hesitancy and indecision while our future is at stake.
France has not quibbled about its future: it derives almost 80 percent of its power from atomic power.
France also has handled its nuclear waste disposal and we should be able to do so in the near future. But our needs are now.We need action.