Nuclear Waste & Dr. James Hansen, Part 1

New nukes could be coming, but a problem with old nukes is still around…


President Barack Obama is proposing billions to build new nuclear power plants in the US.

But Shawn Allee reports the President is also trying to tackle a problem facing the country's old nuclear reactors.

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President Obama mentioned the future of nuclear power in his State of the Union Address ...

OBAMA: But to create more of these clean energy jobs, we need more production, more efficiency, more incentives. That means building a new generation of safe, clean nuclear power plants in this country.

At the same time, Obama's dealing with an old nuclear problem: what to do with the hazardous radioactive waste building up at reactors in thirty one states.

Obama gave up on an old plan to bury nuclear waste inside Nevada's Yucca Mountain.

That project dragged on for decades and cost nine billion dollars.

Recently, the President set up a panel that would set up begin the process all over again.

That panel's supposed to report to the President in less than two years.

Meanwhile, spent nuclear fuel is stored at nuclear power plants.



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This is The Environment Report.

James Hansen is the author of The Storms of My Grandchildren: The Truth about the Coming Climat Catastrophe and Our Last Chance to Save Humanity. He’s a climate scientist for NASA and was the first scientist to testify before Congress about climate change.

In the book, you write about climate change that we seem oblivious to the danger—unaware how close we may be to our demise.

That’s strong language that we don’t often hear from scientists. Why did you feel that was necessary?

“Well, the public is unaware…”

2:12

“….we’re going to keep using them more and more.”

James Hansen, NASA scientist and author of the book “Storms of my Grandchildren.”

We’ll hear more from him tomorrow, including how to reduce using fossil fuels.

That’s The Environment Report. I’m Lester Graham.