Word: coaling
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...coal the answer. Although the U.S. has an abundant supply, coal, like oil, is an exhaustible resource that would be better used in the chemical industry than for power. Deep mining is expensive, and some 100 miners are killed in accidents each year. Strip mining requires expensive reclamation if the land is not to be left looking like a lunar landscape. Coal-fired plants pump thousands of tons of pollutants into the environment annually, despite the installation of expensive scrubbers, which are often ineffective. Also, coal plants may heat up the earth's atmosphere, a phenomenon that could produce...
...odds that anybody will die in a reactor accident are 1 in 300 million a year. The risk of dying as a result of an automobile accident is 75,000 times as high. Nor does radiation now appear to be an unreasonable risk. Coal-fired plants actually emit slightly more radiation than nuclear reactors. Americans are already exposed to radiation from natural sources, color television and medical X rays. Routine operation of nuclear plants would add almost nothing to this exposure. In fact, a person living next door to a nuclear reactor in, say, New York, is exposed to less...
NUCLEAR COSTS. Says David Cromie of Chicago's antinuclear Citizens for a Better Environment: "The most damning word in the English language is 'uneconomic.' " Foes charge that nuclear power plants cost more to build than, say, coal-burning plants, running more than $800 per kw, vs. around $700 for coal. They also argue that nukes operate well below their projected capacities, making the power they generate even costlier...
Industry figures indicate otherwise. Nuclear plants do cost more than coal-fired ones to build, but they are no less reliable. Most U.S. nukes have operated or have been available about as many days as fossil-fuel plants, which must also undergo periodic shutdowns for maintenance or safety checks. The electricity they produce is often competitive. Over a two-year period, the New England Electric System, operating in a region that is far from fossil-fuel sources, provided consumers with a nuclear-generated kwh. for 1.239?, or less than half the 2.596? for a kwh. generated by fossil fuels...
Nuclear power did much to help the U.S. get through the storms and coal strike that crippled fossil-fuel plants last winter, providing much of the electricity for hard-hit New England and the battered Midwest. Similarly, nuclear power could save the country from the specter of industrial shutdowns and power blackouts as the oil runs out. Even conservative estimates are that the U.S. will need 390 nukes to provide at least 27% of its electric power by 2000. The time to start building these plants is now. Otherwise, they will not be ready when the nation really needs them...