More than 20 states have now approved some version of electric
deregulation and the new laws have set off a wave of changes within the
electric industry. Though this industry has always deeply affected the
natural environment, deregulation is bringing a new set of wild cards to
the table. It may provide one industry, nuclear power, the chance to
redefine itself. In the second of a two part series on deregulation,
the Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Ley Garnett reports that conservation
groups and industry officials are just now beginning to sort out what it
all means:
Tag: atomic energy
Plutonium Hits the Road
World leaders have agreed to help the U.S. and Russia find and test
methods of disposing excess nuclear warhead material. One option is to
create what’s called MOX (MOCKS) fuel to be burned in a nuclear
reactor. MOX fuel is created when uranium oxide is mixed with
weapons-grade plutonium. There are plans to test MOX fuel in Canadian
nuclear reactors this spring. But shipping the material to Canada
worries people on both sides of the border. The Great Lakes Radio
Consortium’s Todd Witter reports:
Plutonium Protest
Later this month (October, 1998), the U.S. Department of Energy
will begin shipping weapons grade plutonium to Canada for testing as a
possible fuel for nuclear reactors. As Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s
commentator Suzanne Elston cautions, this could open up a whole new global
economy for the most deadly substance on earth: