Our national goal should be to obtain abundant low-cost, non-polluting -- including carbon dioxide -- electrical energy using U.S. sources of nuclear power. Electrical energy should be expanded to include as much of our energy needs as practical. This would include transportation via automobiles, buses, trains, heating and cooling, operation of equipment, etc. This would also eliminate the need to purchase petroleum from other countries.
Nearly all costs would be kept in the U.S. for workers and corporations. Precious petroleum that is burned for energy would be saved for fabrics, paints, lubricants, etc., and also available for future generations. Combined with wind-generated, hydroelectric and other nonpolluting sources, we could use nuclear power to generate 80 percent of all the electrical energy we will need.
The fear of nuclear power generating radioactive wastes should be minimized if it were generally known that all of the waste generated could be stored in an area the size of a pinprick area on a map of the U.S.
There are currently approximately 103 nuclear electric power plants in the U.S. that have been operating for 40 years without a single fatal accident. The Three Mile Island incident had no injuries, and the subsequent redesign has eliminated the possibility of a re-occurrence. The 1959 Santa Susana Field Laboratory operated by Atomics International in the Simi Hills had an accident that may have ove exposed some of the workers. This was a research project.
Much has been learned about safety procedures and equipment since then. Also, the 103 nuclear electrical generating power plants are standardized and virtually accident-proof.
There are approximately 40,000 automobile accident deaths in the U.S. every year, and no one demands abolishing cars.
The construction of the new nuclear power plants would, in effect, be a stimulus package because the needed supplies, instrumentation, etc., required would come from a wide spread of U.S. manufacturing facilities.
France currently produces 80 percent of its electrical energy via nuclear power.
-- Warren Faue, Ventura