LETTER: A setback for Nevada on nuclear waste
August 17, 2019 - 9:00 pm
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday denied a request by Nevada officials to block future transfers of nuclear material from South Carolina to a federal site north of Las Vegas (Wednesday Review-Journal).
When are my fellow Nevadans going to consider recycling spent nuclear fuel?
Nevada could further prosper by building and maintaining a spent nuclear fuel recycling plant. Revenues would be realized from the sale of generated recycled power and from fees charged to other states for taking away their spent nuclear fuel.
Similar to the Alaska oil dividend, consideration could be given to providing each Nevadan a nuclear recycle dividend.
France, Great Britain and Japan, among other nations, realize that spent nuclear fuel is a valuable asset, not simply waste requiring disposal. As a result, France today generates 80 percent of its electricity needs with nuclear power, much of it generated through recycling.
Our Nevada elected officials are doing a fine job of preventing Yucca Mountain from being a garbage dump for the nation’s spent nuclear fuel. But eventually it will be shipped to Yucca Mountain.