The Baltimore Sun has an interesting op-ed by Jack Spencer, a research fellow in nuclear energy and Nicolas Loris, a researcher at the Heritage Foundation. Noting that Allegheny Energy suffered a slight embarrassment after sending customers two compact fluorescent light bulbs - and then charging them for the bulbs (they later relented and picked up the bill) - Spencer and Loris focus on common-sense reasons for Maryland to look seriously at nuclear energy as a way to meet Governor Martin O'Malley's goal of supplying 20 percent of their energy from renewable fuel sources by 2022. Spencer and Loris take a dimmish view of conservation - that would be the conservative Heritage Foundation talking - but the article makes an excellent case. (The article does not mention Maryland's Calvert Cliffs plant, so this may be an op-ed working its way through different local newspapers.)
Below is from our rapid response team . Yesterday, regional anti-nuclear organizations asked federal nuclear energy regulators to launch an investigation into what it claims are “newly identified flaws” in Westinghouse’s advanced reactor design, the AP1000. During a teleconference releasing a report on the subject, participants urged the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to suspend license reviews of proposed AP1000 reactors. In its news release, even the groups making these allegations provide conflicting information on its findings. In one instance, the groups cite “dozens of corrosion holes” at reactor vessels and in another says that eight holes have been documented. In all cases, there is another containment mechanism that would provide a barrier to radiation release. Below, we examine why these claims are unwarranted and why the AP1000 design certification process should continue as designated by the NRC. Myth: In the AP1000 reactor design, the gap between the shield bu...
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