The Nuclear Option

The U.S. currently receives 20% of its electricity from nuclear power.  There are just over 100 nuclear plants in this country.  The last new plant was built more than 30 years ago.

The government is currently reviewing 23 permits for new nuclear power plants and energy companies have begun the public relations push.  But, there are still hurdles to overcome including waste storage and recycling.

Bay City, Texas is home to 18-thousand residents and two nuclear power plants.  The town is booming.  The plants bring in jobs and tax revenues. Officials here hope more plants will be built in the area.

Calvert County, Maryland has two nuclear reactors.  County officials say the plants have brought in new jobs and significant revenue for the county.  In the past year alone, it generated $17.3 million.

France has welcomed nuclear energy.  Currently, 80% of the country's energy comes from nuclear power.  This state of the art reactor currently under construction will have a lifespan of 60 years, as opposed to the normal 40 years.

The U.S. has produced roughly 50-thousand metric tons of spent nuclear fuel and none of it has a permanent storage facility.  There is also a much larger amount of low-level radioactive waste that has been produced.

One key to the success of nuclear power in France is the country's program to recycle and reuse 96% of the radioactive waste.   Spent fuel rods are recycled, reloaded and returned.

Yucca Mountain is where the Dept. of Energy hopes to create the National Storage Site for high-level radioactive waste. They've been working on it for 30 years, at a cost of nearly $10 billion…and are still waiting for approval.

The 1979 accident at Pennsylvania's Three Mile Island Nuclear Plant was the biggest in U.S. history. Half the reactor's core melted.  Amazingly, there were no deaths or injuries. It took 14 years to clean up and cost  $1 billion dollars. The plant continues to operate today.

In 1986, 26 people are killed when flawed reactor and human error leads to a nuclear meltdown at Chernobyl in the Ukraine. Radiation was released.  More than 20 years later, the area around Chernobyl is still a no-man's land.

In the 70's, finding stars to come out against nuclear power wasn't hard.  The NO NUKES movement reached critical mass in 1979 when thousands flocked to Madison Square Garden to hear Graham Nash, James Taylor and Jackson Browne in the now famous no-nukes concert.

Dr. Patrick Moore, one of the original founders of Greenpeace who once wrote nuclear energy was "synonymous with nuclear holocaust" has changed his tune and come out in support of it.

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