Nuclear Energy

California's initiative process can be both a wonderfully democratic and perilously dumb way to make law. On no issue could that be more true than the proposed initiative to shut down nuclear power in the state. The initiative would shut down the Diablo Canyon and San Onofre nuclear plants until the federal government approves a permanent disposal site for nuclear waste. The issue is scientifically, environmentally and economically complex, and tangled with powerful emotions. Between the facts and those feelings, guess which will have more influence on the choice people make?

WASHINGTON -- The chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission who was championed by watchdogs for his cautious approach to nuclear power but criticized by Republicans in Congress for an overly hard-charging style has announced he will step down. Gregory Jaczko, who led the commission's efforts to protect Americans in Japan during the nuclear crisis at Fukushima and played a key role in fighting the nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain as a former top aide to Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.)

Re "A lone wolf at nuclear agency," Column, April 29 Michael Hiltzik highlights what's wrong with nuclear power regulation, and it has nothing to do with Rep. Darrell Issa's (R-Vista) investigation ofU.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Greg Jaczko. Issa chooses to investigate trivia rather than substance. Rational businesspeople weigh risks and benefits and always consider potential consequences. The unpredictability of nature, design, equipment failure, terrorism and human error all add to the risk posed by nuclear power plants.

Re "Japanese firm wins Metro job," May 1 With our economy so fragile, how dare L.A. County transportation planners award a contract to build rail cars to a Japanese company? We need to have the good people of California working. This was a great opportunity to employ people in our state. Those at the L.A. County Metropolitan Transportation Authority who made this decision need to be replaced. As a longtime resident and taxpayer, I'm sickened by their low regard for our workforce.

President Obama's announcement that the federal government would guarantee loans for two advanced-design nuclear plants in Georgia was good news. The commitment jump-starts the U.S. nuclear energy industry at a time when we have begun to understand that nuclear energy has a substantial role to play in combating climate change and supplying power. More important for the near term, the administration is putting nuclear energy at the center of its push to revitalize the economy. In his State of the Union address, Obama called for "a new generation of safe, clean nuclear power plants" to create more "clean-energy jobs."

A motion by Social Democrats aimed at making Switzerland abandon nuclear energy was defeated Saturday in Parliament by a vote of 105 to 68 after a 20-hour debate.

Re "Nuclear Waste Outpaces Solutions," June 12: During the two-year period, 1991-93, I was responsible for the engineering design of upgrade modifications at the Dresden nuclear station in Morris, Ill., featured in your article. At the time, on-site storage of spent nuclear fuel had already become a critical problem. The failure of the Department of Energy to move forward with the Yucca Mountain waste depository in Nevada since then has only exacerbated this problem. It certainly is poor policy to let nuclear waste accumulate in casks at nuclear power plants, but it is much more dangerous to curtail the use of nuclear energy.

All the recent attention to the 40th anniversary of atomic energy graphically reminded us of the potential threat that nuclear weapons represent. Regrettably, though, it overlooked the way that nuclear energy has helped to preserve the peace. Its use to generate electric power has helped industrialized countries to reduce their dependence on imported oil and, quite possibly, in the future, it may avoid a war. After the 1973 oil embargo virtually all industrialized nations rapidly began developing substitutes for imported oil. That usually mean nuclear energy.

Re "Storing Nuclear Waste Over the Long Haul," letters, May 27: Ted Russell Neff misrepresents the commercial nuclear waste disposal problem and the energy benefits of gasohol. The radioactive leaks at Hanford are the unfortunate legacy of a quick and dirty disposal project, using thin-walled, ordinary steel containers, in the early days of the Cold War when the highest priority was producing more plutonium for more bombs. The Yucca Mountain project for the disposal of commercial nuclear waste has spent over $3.6 billion to ensure that the spent fuel will be completely isolated for hundreds of thousands of years.

France will sign a pact with Libya in the next two to three weeks to help develop the North African country's civilian nuclear energy program, a top French legislator said. Patrick Ollier said, "The governments have already given their approval."

Re "A lone wolf at nuclear agency," Column, April 29 Michael Hiltzik highlights what's wrong with nuclear power regulation, and it has nothing to do with Rep. Darrell Issa's (R-Vista) investigation ofU.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Greg Jaczko. Issa chooses to investigate trivia rather than substance. Rational businesspeople weigh risks and benefits and always consider potential consequences. The unpredictability of nature, design, equipment failure, terrorism and human error all add to the risk posed by nuclear power plants.

KLEINENSIEL, Germany - When the German government shut down half the country's nuclear reactors after the Fukushima disaster in Japan, followed two months later by a pledge to abandon nuclear power within a decade, environmentalists cheered. A year later, however, criticism of the nuclear shutdown is emerging from a surprising source: some of the very activists who pushed for the phaseout. They say poor planning of the shutdown and political opportunism by the government have actually worsened the toll on the environment in Germany, and Europe, at least in the short term.

California's initiative process can be both a wonderfully democratic and perilously dumb way to make law. On no issue could that be more true than the proposed initiative to shut down nuclear power in the state. The initiative would shut down the Diablo Canyon and San Onofre nuclear plants until the federal government approves a permanent disposal site for nuclear waste. The issue is scientifically, environmentally and economically complex, and tangled with powerful emotions. Between the facts and those feelings, guess which will have more influence on the choice people make?

Concern over the safety of the San Onofre nuclear power plant is growing among Orange County cities closest to the facility, which has been shut down since January because of system failures. Officials in nearby San Clemente and Laguna Beach - both within 20 miles of the San Onofre facility - have registered their fears after significant wear was found on hundreds of tubes carrying radioactive water inside the plant's generators. Residents in the Orange County beach towns for years have lived with the twin-domed nuclear plant as a backdrop.

Pursuit of happiness Re "In GOP race, class war gets personal," Feb. 27 Although I agree that Rick Santorum's use of greed-and-envy attacks against Mitt Romney smacks of the class warfare rhetoric of the Democrats and President Obama, I also agree with the basic premise of his message: Opportunity for all beats welfare checks for the many. Few Americans would disagree with Santorum's disdain for the "elites in society who think that they can manage your life better than you can. " But this is not a message of class warfare but rather a call for returning to the "pursuit of happiness" promises that were handed down to us by the Founding Fathers.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy announced a $1.43-billion investment in atomic power Monday, going against Europe's antinuclear tide following the Fukushima disaster in Japan. Despite growing safety concern among neighboring countries, Sarkozy said abandoning the development and building of new nuclear reactors made no sense. "There is no alternative to nuclear energy today," he told reporters. Sarkozy also promised "substantial resources" to strengthen research into nuclear safety and a further $1.85-billion investment in renewable energy sources, including solar and wind power.

Argentina and Cuba have signed an agreement calling for collaboration in the peaceful use of atomic energy, the first pact of its kind in Latin America, the official youth newspaper Juventud Rebelde reported Sunday. Cuba's first nuclear energy plant is now under construction on the Bay of Cienfuegos in south-central Cuba. Two of its four reactors are scheduled to go on line in 1990.

Sidney Siegel, a pioneering developer of nuclear energy for peaceful uses such as the production of electrical power, has died at 89. Siegel, a charter member and former president of the American Nuclear Society, died Friday of cancer at his home in Pacific Palisades. Shortly before his death, Siegel described California's current electrical energy crisis as "deplorable and utterly avoidable," said his son-in-law Alan Maltun.

Bigger isn't better Re " 'Megamansion' upsets the mansion," March 22 Funny that people with houses that are 7,800 square feet find themselves in such a tizzy over the proposed construction of an 85,000-square-foot family compound. How appalling that they were ever allowed to start the trend in the first place. Where will all the water, electricity, lumber, concrete and gas continue to come from? I am advised to limit electrical use in my 1,400-square-foot home during peak hours.

To all those who may be concerned that the catastrophic events at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant will derail the heralded renaissance of nuclear power in the U.S., you can relax. The reason is simple: There is no renaissance. Not even Exelon Corp., the nation's biggest nuclear generation company, has been holding its breath for a surge in orders or appreciable increase in new generating capacity. The reason has little to do with an unreasoning public's fear of nuclear meltdowns and radiation poisoning, and almost everything to do with pure economics.