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In the past few weeks I've read several editorials about nuclear energy which say that it should maybe become part of our future.
One by a libertarian columnist claims that nuclear power has run into too many political obstacles. It states that no one was hurt by the near disaster at Three Mile Island, Pennsylvania in the late 1970s. It says that people are exposed to radiation in many ways, air travel as well as other everyday activities.
A more objective political editorial states that Minnesota's moratorium on new nuclear power plants might be an issue in Election 2026. Many Republican candidates want it lifted.
I personally don't want it to end, at least not without extensive research studies. They should continue for at least several years.
Nuclear energy was considered a wave of the future in the 1950s, 1960s and early 1970s. Atomic bomb inventor Robert Oppenheimer spoke out in favor of peaceful nuclear production. The Oak Ridge Laboratory in eastern Tennessee became famous as a research center.
I remember how society's perception changed almost instantly because of Three Mile Island. The reactor meltdown could have easily caused a radiation disaster like the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It was narrowly avoided, too narrowly to leave any room for a flexible approach.
I remember the 1986 nuclear disaster at Chernobyl in the former Soviet Union and its environmental issues that continue after 40 years.
It was right to call nuclear energy a "failed technology". There has been no way to guarantee that reactors won't explode or malfunction, especially as they age. Engineers also never came up with a way to treat nuclear waste that accumulated in power plant storage pools.
I was a young news reporter in 1993 when Northern States Power was running out of waste storage capacity at its Prairie Island nuclear plant near Red Wing. The best option NSP could propose was to store waste in dry casks outside the plant.
NSP had to get legislative approval for the casks. As they approved the proposal many lawmakers saw a need for more active pursuit of renewable energy, which led to a wind energy mandate.
The Buffalo Ridge of southwestern Minnesota was the state's best wind energy location. Area residents saw the potential for wind expansion all along the ridge.
Lake Benton residents ranging from senior citizens to high school students took a bus trip to the Minnesota State Capitol to lobby for wind energy. They were led by former legislator and former state commissioner of agriculture Jim Nichols.
Their efforts were one of the finest examples I've ever seen of democracy in action. They helped to convince lawmakers that wind power was a practical alternative to coal and nuclear.
Wind energy and solar energy have grown substantially since 1993. Meanwhile we've heard practically nothing about nuclear research. I'm thinking we haven't heard about any breakthroughs in nuclear technology because there aren't any.
We still don't know if living near a nuclear power plant creates health risks. Much more information should be gathered before there's any momentum to build new reactors.
It would be fair to have the Nuclear Regulatory Commission undertake new research studies. Our leaders should look in all directions when it comes to meeting demands for electricity, but shouldn't fast track anything when there are unanswered public safety questions.
We might easily have to curb the demand. If proposals for data centers require too much electricity, federal officials should maybe call for the simplification of electronic systems. If electric cars demand too much, they maybe aren't as viable as we've hoped.
It would be better to abandon the concepts of data centers and electric cars than to allow industries to proceed recklessly with creating more of an energy supply.
Industry has made environmental mistakes in the past. We've had damage along coasts from oil spills. We've had toxic waste exposure with incidents such as the 1970s Love Canal crisis in upstate New York. There have been fish kills, algae blooms and contamination of drinking water; all of it man-made.
Our greatest responsibility is to protect our planet. Sustainability is much more than a four-letter word, both in terms of spelling and with state and national policy. It's necessary if we want a good quality of life for future generations.
-- Jim Muchlinski is a longtime reporter and contributor to the Marshall Independent