Dump on us Column By Curt Andersen Those who plan to support any Republican candidates in Wisconsin’s election should be aware that they are about to step in “it.” The “it” is a dangerous nuclear waste storage facility in northeastern Wisconsin, in an area from about Waupaca to Lakewood, with a secondary site in the southwestern corner of Ashland County. The reason for the decision to site another nuclear waste repository is because there is already nearly enough waste to fill the Yucca Mountain site, thus requiring a second site. It was initially projected to be needed around 2015, but if the government changes the legal limit to match the technical limit, it will be closer to 2050, according to Wisconsin Engineer Magazine http://homepages.cae.wisc.edu/~wiscengr/september04/nuclear.shtml. Yucca Mountain has proven to be seismically active…not a good choice for storing the family’s dishes, let alone nuclear waste. The decision to establish a site in Wisconsin came after a “firm base” of granite was found, in a non-seismic area, which, we are told, is an excellent place to put nuclear waste. As usual, the “experts” did not notice that the granite was not a firm base, but was fractured and within its fractures is an aquifer that supplies water to eastern Wisconsin. They also did not notice that there are scattered areas of population, with thousands of cottages and homes along lakes and rivers…all disqualifying factors for siting. Another reason for the second facility is that with the threat of new construction of nuclear plants being planned in Wisconsin, there will be an increasing need for more storage space for the new waste. The plans for more nuclear plants have been put forth by numerous Republican legislators, including Phil Montgomery (R-Ashwaubenon). They are returning favors to the nuclear power industry. Donations equaling votes is illegal. Wisconsin’s Republican Party’s work on deregulation has led to the probable sale of the Kewaunee nuclear plant, to Dominion Resources of Richmond, Va. Consumers will lose control of that plant by the state regulatory “watchdog”, Wisconsin Public Service Commission (WPSC). After watching the deregulation take place over the last few years, with our watchdog WPSC compromised by the changes, further loss of control means WPSC will be doing even less to protect state residents from steep rate increases, a lack of security, and cuts in maintenance to keep profits high. This is the handiwork of our Republican-controlled legislature…the Race-to-the-Bottom guys. Thanks to deregulation, Wisconsin’s fifth-lowest electric rates in the country (1996) have jumped up to 27th highest in the country. Wisconsin has had a moratorium on new nuclear plant construction since 1983, just after the accidents at Three Mile Island and Chernobyl. No one was killed outright in the area around Three Mile Island, but radiation was released. No adverse health effects have yet been announced. The explosion at Chernobyl killed 30 people in the accident and the follow-up efforts to cover the gaping hulk with graphite, but many more people have died from radiation poisoning since then, and citizens from the area have been completely relocated. Clean-up and relocation costs for the accident were estimated at over $300 billion in 1986. We can assume those figures are now much higher. Whereas the moratorium (Section 196.493 of Wisconsin Statutes), does not actually prohibit the new construction of nuclear plants, it does set two common-sense standards that must be met before the state Public Service Commission approves a new nuclear plant: There must be a place for disposal of the radioactive waste produced by a nuclear plant; and the proposed plant must be the best economic alternative for power production. Since nuclear power is so heavily subsidized, those who attempt to make it appear to be the best economic alternative will lean heavily on fantasy for their arguments. Part of the problem with the nuclear waste is that it remains exceptionally dangerous for handlers for upwards of fifty years after it is removed from the reactor. A nuclear “expert” has decided that it would be just dandy to put the HOT nuclear waste into a storage facility. Perhaps the experts have gotten too high a dose of radiation and have crippled their thinking capabilities. It has been said that the waste remains “dangerous” for its half-life of 10,000 years, but because of radioisotopes from the splitting of atoms, it actually remains a run-for-your-life, dangerous-as-hell, cancer-causing agent for 250,000 years. The tourism industry, which is a big enough deal to have its own department in Wisconsin’s government, has had little to say about a new nuclear plant or a waste repository, but it seems fairly obvious that few people would be spending their money in an area within or bordering a very toxic nuclear waste storage facility. Are we to trade our economic engine for waves of dangling Christmas icicle lights? Land values around the Kewaunee and Point Beach nuclear plants are lower than most lakeshore property in Wisconsin, for obvious reasons…people are nervous about land near the plants. It’s easy to expect the same effect on land values in the Waupaca to Lakewood area. Aquifers in the proposed storage area feed northeastern Wisconsin wells, including mine. This becomes a NIMBY issue (Not In My Backyard) for me, but I have been promoting the use of renewable energy programs for years, so I don’t feel particularly guilty about not wanting a nuke plant messing with my water. Terrorism is a topic all the rage nowadays, but proponents of nuclear power are rather mute about the threat of terrorism to shipments of nuclear waste, either across Wisconsin to the new nuclear waste storage area, or across the United States, all the way to Yucca Mountain, on trucks, trains, or barges. Are we to be suckered in, like the passengers of the Titanic, who were told the ship was unsinkable? These shipments provide succulent targets for terrorists, and would be nearly impossible to stop. It would be better to stop making the waste in the first place and move towards renewable resources, like wind and solar. (God approved this column.) Curt Andersen is a Green Bay native. He is a 4-year Navy veteran (Communications Technician, CTO2), (who, unlike President Bush, served his entire hitch), owns a small business, is vice president of Clean Water Action Council, and is an adjunct instructor at Northeast Wisconsin Technical College. You may contact Mr. Andersen at [email protected]