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Tomlinson: Texas governor’s plan for taxpayer-funded nuclear reactors reanimates

4 1
21.12.2024

Topping off Reactor #1 at the South Texas Project Nuclear Power Plant

A large dome is lowered onto a nuclear containment building at the Plant Vogtle nuclear energy facility in Waynesboro, Ga., Friday, March 22, 2019. The cost of two new reactors being built there is now at least $28.5 billion, more than twice the original price tag, with the other owners saying Georgia Power Co. has triggered an agreement requiring Georgia Power to pay more of the costs.

An employee walks past the nuclear reactors at South Texas Nuclear Generating Station which is located near Bay City.

A worker clad in protective ware walks past the spent fuel pool at the South Texas Nuclear Project Electric Generating Station.

Anti-nuke activists are stirring from a long slumber, reanimated by Gov. Greg Abbott asking the Legislature to help fund new nuclear power plants across the state.

Advocates are promising smaller, safer and more affordable reactors to meet Texas’ growing electricity demand. However, opponents insist that radioactive waste remains a problem, and the money would be better spent elsewhere.

Texans should closely watch the upcoming legislative session to see whether lawmakers spend their money wisely to improve the grid or give birth to yet more crony capitalism.

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I don’t oppose nuclear energy, but I do question its affordability. There are countless methods of providing clean electricity, but only a few make economic sense. The last reactors built in the........

© Houston Chronicle


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