Colorado River’s Nuclear Powered Light Bulb

Letter to Ephesians: Does lightning have to strike our Westerners to consider the most practical solution to their chronically high energy costs may be nuclear power? Yet, they obsess over “innovative solutions” as the Colorado River is shrinking & its dam(s) hold back thin air ...

True, the latest reservoir “crisis” needs immediate attention. The WSJ says the Colorado River is shrinking faster than the Danube thanks to being “drained by drought & overuse.” Some emergency band-aides naturally need to be applied; so it makes sense they are trying out “new efforts to keep the river flowing.” Yet nary a discouraging word is heard about solving the state’s related power affordability issue that’s never going to go away as long as the hydro-electric/wind/solar/gas & coal status quo dominates. Can anyone ask whether it may finally be time to give up the anti-nuclear ghost to help hold down those sky-high utility bills? Green die-hards will insist it’s still “crazy” to put a nuke reactor in the middle of a mountain range. Yet, what’s arguably crazy is “fixing” these hydro-electric dams in the middle of a mountainous desserts that are MORE susceptible to earthquake damage than modern day nuclear reactors.

God help me, yes, I was a geology major in my first year at UICC before trading in my pick & burro for a poli-sci degree then LLM at DePaul Law. I still recall the hand wringing over Illinois’ Zion nuclear plant & doomsday predictions about its safety. After 20 years of service & one notable safety complaint, Zion was decommissioned without a meltdown in 1996. Even its severest critics would now concede, Illinois helped stabilize & hold down the cost of its utility bills by building six newer nuclear power plants that now generate over half of the state’s electricity. Consider, too, that the latest generation of nuclear plants are widely praised for being designed to withstand the severest earthquake; meanwhile, federal law & regulations require them to be built far from known active faults and/or be heavily reinforced where proximity is unavoidable. The hydro-electric dams have no choice but to rely on natural valleys & riverbeds where no amount of concrete reinforcement can make them earthquake proof. Hindsight is always 20/20. Foresight can be 20/10. Light bulb?

Davd Soul