Dominion: Full Fission Ahead
By Ward Smythe | Tuesday, March 15th, 2011 | Catch-All
With news continuing to leak (pardon me) out about Japan’s nuclear power complex, Dominion Power is getting questions about plans to expand their Lake Anna Facility.
Dominion says plans unchanged for reactor license
Richmond Times Dispatch
Dominion Virginia Power said Monday that it intends to move forward with plans for a third reactor at its North Anna Power Station as the international nuclear energy industry reels from the disaster at the Dai-ichi nuclear plant in Japan.
Lake Anna is not a likely target for a tsunami. In fact if a tsunami big enough to get that far inland hits the Virginia coast, nuclear power may be the least of our worries.
Still, there’s nothing wrong with proceeding with caution.
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About the author
Ward Smythe is a pseudonymous aspiring freelance writer from Central Virginia. Until late 2007 Ward blogged at the now defunct "Ward View" and was active in Virginia and national politics. Ward's signature style of snarkery gained him a unique following that he hopes to regain here at Bearing Drift. Ward uses humor, satire and sometimes photoshop to make his point. Ward is proud to be an equal opportunity offender.
Comments
10 Responses to "Dominion: Full Fission Ahead"
is this plant actually going to be a fusion plant as opposed to a fission plant? Or is the headline literary license
“Fusion” was a pre-caffeine reaction. so to speak.
Thanks for the catch.
Actually I checked wikipedia and it looks like fusion plants are still at the conceptual stage-ITER reactor under construction in France is an experimental fusion reactor. The first one to produce electricity will not be built for 13 more years. So I got way ahead of myself in asking the question
The liquid-fluoride thorium reactor might solve a lot of problems.
http://energyfromthorium.com/
Would cost 2 to 3 billion to build the first one.
I don’t think the Japan situation SHOULD slow Dominion down. Nuclear has to be a part of our energy solution. As Brian S. pointed out the other day, what’s happening in Japan is the very worst-case scenario, short of a nuclear bombing of a nuke plant. And even there, those reactors have not totally failed. Given the mess BP made in the Gulf without an earthquake or a tidal wave, nuclear still remains a far safer energy option than oil or coal.
They are having trouble finding the “mess” in the Gulf. Oil and natural gas are going to be dominant for most of this century like it or not.
Oil dependence will be dominant as long as we do nothing to make it non-dominant. This is something R&Ds, C&Ls, all agree on – being (excuse the cliche) addicted to oil is bad for the US – its bad for the economy, its bad for our security, its bad for our stability, etc. Natural gas is a fine intermediate step as is conversion from gasoline to electric for transport (even though that has its own issues). But why can’t our representatives DEAL with this issue? Talk is cheap.
Eric : “But why can’t our representatives DEAL with this issue?”
Obviously because with hyper partisanship politicians regard every issue as a potential club and fund raising tool against foes. Perhaps since you are friendly with the Dems you can ask them why the first thing Obama’s Dept of Energy did was cancel hydrogen fuel cell R&D – too associated with Bush. The Repubs will probably scale back wind power R&D. I don’t know the merits of these programs but it is clear that R&D has been infected with political gamesmanship. I have to lay most of the blame on the scientists, many of whom are leftists. They have compromised their scientific integrity to be the acolytes and servants of their political heroes. Now they are losing credibility with the population and politicians expect them to serve up data to support political agendas.
RE: Valentinus
That last bit is truly moronic. Can you give some examples? You need enough to have some serious weight behind such a ridiculous statement.
Look up global warming Batman or Robin whichever.
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