Nuclear plants in Wash ...yes or no (Seattle, Bellingham: power lines, wages)

[rantiquity]

Energy provider Energy Northwest and small modular nuclear reactor developer X-Energy announced Wednesday that they signed a joint development agreement to create up to a dozen reactors in Central Washington.

But many power companies are not participating in funding studies to determine if they can be feasible.
Including my own Clallam County PUD.
Do you think your power companies should contribute do a feasible study?

Do you think these modular reactors should be built?
What is your thoughts on Nuclear power in general?

[ejisme]

I think if we really want to reduce the carbon footprint of electrical power generation, then nuclear power should be a major component. It's a mostly stable source of power that can be ramped up and down based on need, which is an issue with solar and wind power generation. Solar and wind tend to add spikes of power, or not much at all, to the regional/national power grid. Nuclear, hydro, and hydrocarbon power sources are ramped up or down to keep the grid stable at the demand level.

Here in Idaho solar is producing well today, as it's a mostly cloudless sky and summer months provide the best sun angle to produce electricity. But, wind production is probably near zero, as the wind is quite still across the region right now. In this area hydroelectric is the main steady source that is meeting the local need and excess from all sources is sold out of state. In the winter we have several natural gas turbines spread around the region that produce electricity as needed. We have one at the edge of our town and can hear it when it fires up. Sometimes it runs for weeks at a time.

Anyway, I'm sure parts of Eastern Washington would make good locations for nuclear powerplants, as well as other states in the country. I'd like to see them close to locations where the power will be used, which in the west tends to be Arizona, Nevada and California as the big power importers from the Northwestern states.

[texasdiver]

Yes they should be built.

Nuclear will have to be a component in a carbon-free future.

All of the issues with nuclear (waste disposal, etc.) are political issues not scientific.

[Diana Holbrook]

Are we going to revive WooPPS! The Washington Public Power Supply System?

Best acronym ever!


I am skeptical about any wide application of Nuclear Energy until we solve the Radioactive Waste problem. Storage of waste that will remain deadly for EONS after all of us are dead, using technology that will last a fraction of that time, is irresponsible at best. I am not smart enough to solve it, but we need people who are to fix that now, not count on future people to fix it for us.

[509]

Originally Posted by rantiquity

But many power companies are not participating in funding studies to determine if they can be feasible.
Including my own Clallam County PUD.
Do you think your power companies should contribute do a feasible study?

Do you think these modular reactors should be built?
What is your thoughts on Nuclear power in general?

Douglas County PUD REFUSED to join WHOOPS. A judge still found them liable for a portion of the default, based on their membership in the state-wide PUD organization!!!

I think that is part of the reason PUD's and power companies are refusing to contribute a feasibility study. They don't want ties to another financial disaster.

Yes, the modular reactors do need to be built......in western Washington.

For Puget Sound with its Orca's and unique ecosystem the Skagit River dams need to be removed. That means that city of Seattle will need to find another generating source on a similar scale to hydro dams.

In the early 1990's the Pacific Northwest had plenty of generating capacity, but not the power lines going from energy rich eastern Washington to energy poor western Washington. BPA did quietly, upgrade the power lines from east to west, laws were pass giving the governors authority to suspend the Clean Air Act in a emergency, and they closed the aluminum plants in rural areas to send the electricity to urban areas. It was a great deal for the workers, they got paid their wages and health care costs for years!!!

In the late 1990's, BPA came to the Forest Service to talk about building new power lines over the Cascades. It was a big meeting with every Forest sending representatives. BPA apologized for not working closer with the Forest Service, but now they were ready to build another huge power line over the Cascades. Forest Service told them, we are not the same Forest Service that you remember with Woody Guthrie.

But they tried anyway, and the power line proposal quickly died after the initial draft environmental statement.

There is no way these days that another new power line is going over the Cascades given today's environmental laws that the Forest Service has to follow.

I did see where BPA is proposing to upgrade power lines primarily in western Washington.

Given the possibility that the Skagit River dams will need to come out to save Puget Sound. And the fact that there will NOT be new power lines constructed from eastern Washington. It becomes clear that the new nuclear plants will have to located in western Washington.

Do you think that is going to happen??

Western Washington generates very little electricity. With full electrification as proposed by the Democrats, those nuclear reactors will have to be built in western Washington.

Once we build those nuclear reactors, the rate payers in western Washington need to pay for removal of the Industrial Wind and Solar Areas in eastern Washington and the restoration of the natural landscape.

THAT is going to be VERY EXPENSIVE given the ecological damage caused by those facilities.

[MechAndy]

I did be cool with it if we had a can of “nuke away”.
On a serious note it sure would be nice if we could at least refine or recycle the waste.

[rkcarguy]

I'm a yes, but it's not going to happen. Too many nimby's and environmental red tapein WA, even if the waste disposal portion is figured out.
We have a 3rd world countries power grid in our near future. Even this week in Bellingham with temps in the 80's, the power has kicked out 1/2 a dozen times.

[jabogitlu]

Nuclear power plants will not be built in Western Washington on a time scale that is meaningful for their contributions to our issues. Western Washington can't even agree to build a greenfield second airport despite Sea-Tac's obvious and compounding capacity issues.

[509]

If it wasn't for eastern Washington supporting the infrastructure in western Washington, the west half of the state would cease to exist.

[moguldreamer]

Nuclear Power is a huge no-brainer. We need more energy, more energy, more energy.

The nature of the economy is to combine energy with raw materials, labor, and know-how to create products and services sold for a profit - that is the essence of driving out standard of living upwards.

The anti-energy wing of the progressive party is arguing for a perpetual standard of living.

I prefer an ever increasing standard of living.