tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7464708.post109260825515323369..comments2024-03-22T06:05:36.544-04:00Comments on Kids Prefer Cheese: Soil-ed Green: I voted FOR it before I voted AGAINST itMungowitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02340064320347875601noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7464708.post-1092666284775368442004-08-16T10:24:00.000-04:002004-08-16T10:24:00.000-04:00ERRATA TO ANON: Please remove the "not" in the se...ERRATA TO ANON: Please remove the "not" in the second sentence. Thanks.<br /><br />"It is actually much worse than you describe. The reality of Yucca is that the Greens realize if there is a secure place to store spent fuel for eternity then Wall St. will not be willing to finance construction of new reactors in the U.S. (they are now willing to do it anywhere but the here). "Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7464708.post-1092665706281250402004-08-16T10:15:00.000-04:002004-08-16T10:15:00.000-04:00It is actually much worse than you describe. The ...It is actually much worse than you describe. The reality of Yucca is that the Greens realize if there is a secure place to store spent fuel for eternity then Wall St. will not be willing to finance construction of new reactors in the U.S. (they are now willing to do it anywhere but the here). The industry and government realized this in the 80's when they decided to build Yucca by levying a surcharge of 1/2 cent per kilowatt hour on the electricity that it sells (meaning anyone that is hooked up to the grid pays this hidden tax). It is now worth about 35 BILLION. So here's the rub, it's not actually there, it was used for general revenue (remember Gore's "lockbox" plan to social security?). Of course the surcharge is still applicable. But wait, it gets worse!<br /><br />The DOE sold this to the utilities in the 80's by GUARANTEEING that they would start to pick this stuff up in the once the facility was complete and would have it all safely stored at Yucca by 2010. Of course nothings happened, so utilities sued the DOE for breach of contract for not picking ANY of it up (and hence the utilities are still liable for the spent fuel). Guess what, DOE knew they were going to lose the case, so they settled for about $300 million (and you know who pays for the DOE's "mistake"). Now there are about two dozen utilities lined up to sue the DOE, which will probably settle their losing position. The pay-out for this will likely top the cost for building Yucca in the first place. The end result of all this is that it will cost taxpayers at tens of billions of dollars and not one spent fuel rod will be moved. <br /><br />Oh wait, it does get worse. Yucca mountain is limited by statute as to how much spent fuel can be stored there. So technically there is already more spent fuel then could legally be sent to Yucca. The reason for this? To sell it to Nevada in the 80's the Federal gov't agreed to limit the amount sent there to ensure that another site would have to be built, therefore poor Nevada wouldn't be the odd one out. Of course, no one is willing to speculate where the next disposal site will go, that topic is radioactive (sorry, couldn't resist).<br /><br />The end result is that due to increased pollution laws power generation via fossil fuels is decreasing while power demand is increasing. Therefore, since no power company can get financing to build a new plant they are applying for permits to run existing reactors beyond their designed lifecycle at the same time applying for permits to increase their output (which the DOE is happy to grant lest someone flick a switch and nothing happens, hence inspiring the poor soul to call their elected official). This fact, combined with the spent fuel situation, has created a very hazardous scenario, one which we have the “Greens” to thank.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7464708.post-1092617587690024122004-08-15T20:53:00.000-04:002004-08-15T20:53:00.000-04:00Thanks for the acknowledgement. npThanks for the acknowledgement. npAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com