News about Solar, Wind and alternative green power technologies

Much effort has been spent since that fateful day in 1979 to spruce up the image of nuclear energy after the near disaster at Three Mile Island. Nuclear energy is an expensive yet viable energy option for the United States and though there are risks few can deny there is a requirement for it. Currently thirty five percent of all Pennsylvania power needs are covered by nuclear facilities.
 
Lately even the Democratic Party, previously ardent detractors of nuclear power, are beginning to cozy up to it. They claim that a well thought out energy policy will need to include nuclear power capacity provided it is safely introduced into the mix.
As the politicos are welcoming nuclear energy with a careful acknowledgement, the scientific community is simply gushing over the comeback and potential of nuclear power. They believe it is a safe and emission free resource for electricity and it is also reliable and inexpensive to maintain, according to Penn State University Nuclear engineering Chairman Jack Brenizer.

Penn State was the first place to house a nuclear reactor in the country. Brenizer, who hails from Harrisburg and even fished off Three Mile Island prior to the plant being built, says nuclear power is safe and says that accident at Three Mile Island in ’79, only proves the safety of it. He says it was momentous accident but that the safety mechanisms in place proved effective in safeguarding the public and the nuclear materials were controlled.

China has seemingly outlived the China Syndrome. They have embraced nuclear technology in a large manner. Japan has done the same and India is well on its way to becoming a nuclear energy state. There have been no new nuclear facilities constructed since the TMI incident in ’79 and this means other nations have leapt past the US in advancing the technology developed in the US.

Brenizer says that US dithering over the issue means uncertainty in their positioning where future energy requirements are concerned. Some high profile turnarounds like Greenpeace co-founder Patrick Moore now says he was wrong to condemn nuclear power since it does not emit toxic pollutants into the air as do coal, gas and oil. Nevertheless, critics remain and they continue to push for alternative energy sources.

There is no need to bury alternative power facility when it ceases operations, national guard units are not necessary for guarding wind turbines. Solar plants and wind farms appear safe from terrorist attack as well so says Eric Epstein of the Three Mile Island Alert Fraternity.

The problem lies in the wind and sun currently not being able to keep up with the power demands of the American consumer. There just is not enough infrastructure in place. A TMI spokesperson says they are in favor of renewable energy solutions for power but a single wind turbine will not generate the kind of power produced by a facility like TMI nuclear.

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Just recently, an accident at the TMI nuclear plant has once again cast doubt on nuclear safety. This is a snippet from a Baltimore Newspaper only days ago:
On November 21, 2009, a radiation leak occurred at the Three Mile Island plant in Harrisburg, which is less than one hundred miles north of the City of Baltimore up the I-83. One hundred and fifty workers were evacuated and twenty personnel were exposed to dangerous levels of radiation.

The radiation leak did not garner much notice in Baltimore, but Marylanders should be taking a hard look.  Not just because of the close proximity to Three Mile Island nuclear plant, but also since the Calvert Cliffs in South Maryland is a proposed location for the first new nuclear power facility to be built since the 1979 Three Mile Island accident happened.

It kind of makes the NIMBY crowd concerned about wind turbine construction near their homes sound like a bunch of whiners. –