Here’s What Happened When The Government Lost Control Of The Biggest Nuclear Cleanup In The US – The Real Costs Start After Decommissioning
Since the Cold War ended and tear-down efforts began, the federal government has spent more than $100 billion cleaning up dozens of former nuclear sites around the country. The effort has made hundreds and possibly thousands of workers sick. And it’s not close to over: The Department of Energy estimates it will take at least 50 more years, and cost another $107 billion, to make Hanford safe.
It's not that wind and solar have zero environmental impact, but they certainly have less impact in terms of total cost of ownership over the long term and way less immediate threat to lives than nuclear. With improvements in renewable energy (both efficiency and lower costs), their time is coming. Just like diesel replaced steam locomotion, we'll be letting go of nuclear and fossil fuel power generation in the coming two decades.
See https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/zahrahirji/hanford-workers-nuclear-radiation
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Here’s What Happened When The Government Lost Control Of The Biggest Nuclear Cleanup In The US “This is 2018. We shouldn’t still be contaminating people with plutonium,” said a worker at the Hanford site in eastern Washington. |