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Related: About this forumCountdown to Nuclear Ruin at Paducah
Countdown to Nuclear Ruin at Paducah May 22, 2013
By Geoffrey Sea
Disaster is about to strike in western Kentucky, a full-blown nuclear catastrophe involving hundreds of tons of enriched uranium tainted with plutonium, technetium, arsenic, beryllium and a toxic chemical brew. But this nuke calamity will be no fluke. Its been foreseen, planned, even programmed, the result of an atomic extortion game played out between the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the most failed American experiment in privatization, the company that has run the Paducah plant into the poisoned ground, USEC Inc.
As now scheduled, main power to the gargantuan gaseous diffusion uranium plant at Paducah, Kentucky, will be cut at midnight on May 31, just nine days from nowcut because USEC has terminated its power contract with TVA as of that time [USEC Ceases Buying Power, Paducah Sun, April 19, page 1] and because DOE cant pick up the bill.
DOE is five months away from the start of 2014 spending authority, needed to fund clean power-down at Paducah. Meanwhile, USECs total market capitalization has declined to about $45 million, not enough to meet minimum listing requirements for the New York Stock Exchange, pay off the companys staggering debts or retain its operating licenses under financial capacity requirements of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
The Paducah plant cannot legally stay open, and it cant safely be shut downa lovely metaphor for the end of the Atomic Age and a perfect nightmare for the people of Kentucky....
By Geoffrey Sea
Disaster is about to strike in western Kentucky, a full-blown nuclear catastrophe involving hundreds of tons of enriched uranium tainted with plutonium, technetium, arsenic, beryllium and a toxic chemical brew. But this nuke calamity will be no fluke. Its been foreseen, planned, even programmed, the result of an atomic extortion game played out between the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the most failed American experiment in privatization, the company that has run the Paducah plant into the poisoned ground, USEC Inc.
As now scheduled, main power to the gargantuan gaseous diffusion uranium plant at Paducah, Kentucky, will be cut at midnight on May 31, just nine days from nowcut because USEC has terminated its power contract with TVA as of that time [USEC Ceases Buying Power, Paducah Sun, April 19, page 1] and because DOE cant pick up the bill.
DOE is five months away from the start of 2014 spending authority, needed to fund clean power-down at Paducah. Meanwhile, USECs total market capitalization has declined to about $45 million, not enough to meet minimum listing requirements for the New York Stock Exchange, pay off the companys staggering debts or retain its operating licenses under financial capacity requirements of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
The Paducah plant cannot legally stay open, and it cant safely be shut downa lovely metaphor for the end of the Atomic Age and a perfect nightmare for the people of Kentucky....
More at: http://ecowatch.com/2013/countdown-to-nuclear-ruin-at-paducah/
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Countdown to Nuclear Ruin at Paducah (Original Post)
kristopher
May 2013
OP
It'll be.. interesting to see how this industry contracts over the next 20-50-100 years.
AtheistCrusader
May 2013
#3
madrchsod
(58,162 posts)1. YIKES!
RobertEarl
(13,685 posts)2. These are the people of nuclear power in the US
This news is NOT a confidence booster.
And it is spreading... worldwide.
AtheistCrusader
(33,982 posts)3. It'll be.. interesting to see how this industry contracts over the next 20-50-100 years.
You need really smart people to draw these things down safely. What kind of smart people want to get into nuclear power, when it is contracting, and fading away?
kristopher
(29,798 posts)4. The greedy kind, for the most part...
The brinksmanship described in the OP is a good indicator.