Small modular nuclear reactors and Southern Utah nuclear history at odds – by Lisa Rutherford (The Spectrum – August 25, 2019)

https://www.thespectrum.com/

During my nearly twenty years as a Southern Utah resident, much has been published about “downwinder” citizens in this area. “Downwinders” are those who have dealt with illness, including cancer, related to nuclear testing in nearby Nevada. Nearly fifty years of testing and 200 tests left a sad legacy. Southern Utah is not the only nuclear victim. Uranium mining in other Utah areas has left pollution resulting in more illness.

So, it’s ironic that now there is an effort on the part of the Utah Associated Municipal Power System (UAMPS) to encourage local communities to purchase nuclear energy from a system that uses small modular nuclear reactors (SMNR). UAMPS, in coordination with a Portland, Oregon company, NuScale Power LLC, plans to site an SMNR at a Department of Energy (DOE) site in Idaho.

The SMNRs may be small but they still create nuclear waste — waste that has been rejected generally by Utah’s residents who don’t want Utah to become a dumping ground. Southern Utah town/cities that purchase nuclear energy will put Utah on the hook for the waste generated, setting a precedent for others to bring more waste to our state — hazardous waste that will remain hazardous to our state’s children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and beyond.

How many times have the safety and future well-being of these progeny been used to support and justify decisions? Is their protection not just as important when it comes to this issue?

Even now storing existing nuclear waste generated in America is an unresolved issue. This will add to the problem. In addition to nuclear waste, Utah has 10 active or proposed EPA Superfund sites, sites that cost our tax dollars to clean up what industry left behind.

For the rest of this column: https://www.thespectrum.com/story/news/2019/08/25/small-modular-nuclear-reactors-and-southern-utah-history-odds/2115476001/