New Nukes Ready for Approval on TMI Anniversary

Oregon's Trojan Nuclear Plant is history, but here come more nukes. On the 29th anniversary of the worst US nuclear plant accident at Three Mile Island, the Scientific American reports that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is ready to approve the siting of new nuclear plants. So stock up on "radiation protection" pills.

There are a number of pending applications before the NRC: two boiling-water reactors at the South Texas Project power plant near Houston and, “As many as 29 other reactors could be built” in the US according to the director of the NRC's Office of New Reactors.

March 28 was the 29th anniversary of the Three Mile Island nuclear plant partial meltdown and radioactive dispersal-–the worst nuclear plant “incident” in the US. Nuclear fuel partially melted, contaminated water was released and hydrogen built up in the reactor, leading to further explosions.

April 26 will mark the 22nd anniversary of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant disaster when the plant in the Ukraine (then Soviet Union) exploded. Additional explosions and a fire sent a plume of highly radioactive fallout into the atmosphere. Over 330,000 people were evacuated. The plume drifted over parts of the western Soviet Union, Europe and eastern part of North America. Large areas in Ukraine remain devastated.

Years later, under the guise of an energy plan, industry propaganda has led to administration calls to revive the nuclear plant industry in the US--dependent of course on billions in federal subsidies included in the recent energy bill. There is still no national repository for nuclear waste.