Two leading senators sign on with Colorado Sen. Mark Udall
Colorado Senator Mark Udall, (right) has introduced a bill to authorize federal R&D for small, modular reactors. Udall said in a speech on the Senate floor he believes nuclear energy is an important part of the nation's response to global warming.
"Given the economic, national security, and environmental threats that our current energy system creates, we need a comprehensive and cleaner energy policy. In this regard, nuclear energy clearly has emerged as an important player in our search for a stable and domestic energy source that has less greenhouse gas emissions."
Going against type
In supporting nuclear energy, Udall is going against his political base and family history. Colorado is one of the greenest states with a long history of opposition to nuclear energy spurred in part by the failure of the Ft. St. Vrain nuclear reactor located 40 miles north of Denver. It never had an accident, but it was a technical and financial failure. Decommissioning was completed in 1992.
Also, Udall is the son of the late Arizona congressman Morris Udall. He is the nephew of former secretary of the interior Stewart Udall. According to media reports,he is considered an strong supporter of environmental organizations and has supported their drive to expand the use of renewable energy sources including solar, wind, and biomass.
Key senators support Udall’s bill
Udall's bill, the Nuclear Energy Research Initiative Improvement Act of 2009, is co-sponsored by Senate energy and natural resources committee chairman Sen. Jeff Bingaman, a Democrat from new Mexico, and the ranking Republican member of that committee, Sen Lisa Murkowski a Republican from Alaska. Both are strong supporters of nuclear energy which gives Udall’s bill a better than even chance of not winding up in the scrap heap of symbolic bills.
It would authorize the government to research small-scale nuclear power plants as a source of electricity. Some of the R&D would take place at the Colorado School of Mines. The Colorado School of Mines has a history of R&D collaboration with the Idaho National Laboratory as a scientific user of the INL’s Advanced Test Reactor (ATR).
There was no word whether the bill would also change the way to NRC conducts cost recovery for reactor design certification for small reactors. The The bill number is S.2052. Here is a PDF copy with the legislative language courtesy of Sen. Udall's office.
Green groups target Colorado uranium mining impacts
Environmental groups in Colorado lashed out at Udall's bill. Keith Hay, a spokesman for Denver-based Environment Colorado, said his group disagreed with Udall, and called the measure is just so much "buckshot" and is not a silver bullet for dealing with climate change.
Environmental groups also criticized Udall on the grounds that expansion of nuclear energy means more uranium mining will take place in Colorado. Hay said the state is "on the dirty front end" of the nuclear fuel cycle.”
However, recent developments in Colorado show green groups may not be holding sway on the issue of uranium mining. Recently, the Montrose County Commission unanimously approved a special use permit for a new 500 ton/day uranium mill to be built by Energy Fuels (TSE:EFR) in the Paradox Valley.
Most uranium mining in the western slope is underground. However, Powertech (TSE:PWE), a Canadian firm, is developing an ISR mine near Nunn, Colo. Despite noisy opposition in Weld and Larimer counties, the company continues to make progress with permitting the mine with Colorado regulatory authorities.
Video of Udall’s Senate speech on nuclear energy
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Idaho Samizdat is a
blog about the political and economic aspects of nuclear energy and nonproliferation issues. It covers the nuclear energy industry globally. Additionally, the blog has regional coverage on uranium mining in the western U.S.
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