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Re: News Advisory: Still Crazy -- no nuke waste problem, just doesn't exist ....



pjreid@mi.net (Patrick Reid) wrote:

>But they have. The US federal government entered into a contractual
>agreement to provide a permament waste repository. The nuclear plants
>have been paying into the fund to pay for this for years, and have
>accumulated ~$14 billion, I believe.

In actuality, what the government did was to pass a law that declared
nuclear waste management to be a federal monopoly. The law REQUIRED
utilities to begin contributing to the fund and to make arrangements
with the DoE for a contract.  There was no choice in the matter,
not exactly a recipe for a free enterprise contractural system.

What many people seem to be unaware of is the fact that there was
a private nuclear waste industry developing up until the Carter
Adminstration.  This industry had already built one facility and
had another one well underway that would have provided a vast amount
of storage space for fuel awaiting recycling.

Of course, the unilateral ban on private recycling projects was 
recinded during the next Administration, but the damage had already
been done.  Private industry figured that there was no sense being
in a business where a presidential decision could put you out of 
business overnight.

Reference: Goldschmidt, Bertrand "The Atomic Complex: A Worldwide
Political History of Nuclear Energy," American Nuclear Society,
La Grange Park, Il 1982, p. 411-417

Rod Adams
Adams Atomic Engines, Inc.
http://www.opennet.com/AAE



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