On Thursday the Nuclear Regulatory Commission approved a license request for a new nuclear power plant to be built near Augusta, Georgia. It's the first new nuclear power plant to get a green light from the government since the Three Mile Island meltdown in 1979. Go Isotopes! Now nuclear power enthusiasts are spinning this faster than an overheating centrifuge, heralding the licensing as the dawn of a new era in nuclear energy.
Jim Steets, a spokesman for the controversial Indian Point facility just north of New York City tells CBS 880, "It’s positive news for the industry and I think the benefits of nuclear power are clear." It certainly makes his job easier for a day or two, since the last time Indian Point was in the news, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission was rejecting some of the power plant’s fire safety procedures. Governor Cuomo has said that Indian Point should close, and the facility has been under increased scrutiny ever since an earthquake in Japan damaged the Fukishima nuclear reactor. Indian Point sits at the intersection of two fault lines and has been branded the most vulnerable to an earthquake in the nation.
As for the Georgia plant, it goes without saying that not everyone is as sanguine as Indian Point's spokesman. Laura Haight at the New York Public Interest Research Group maintains that "private financing is almost dead in the water for nuclear power plants. It’s too risky. It’s too expensive." And Allison Fisher, an energy expert for the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen, called the Georgia plant a step in the wrong direction. "It is inexplicable that we’ve chosen this moment in history to expand the use of a failed and dangerous technology," Fisher told the Washington Post. Oh, would you relax, hippie? Radiation is good for you!
