Not too far from where I grew up was a nuclear power plant called Trojan. Total eyesore and a political hot-button.
One could see it from the I-5 freeway. The plant was in Oregon, but on this stretch of the freeway, you'd be in Washington state.
Construction on it started in 1970. It was connected to the electrical grid in 1975 and commercial operation began in 1976. It cost $460 million to build and at the time it was the largest pressurized water reactor in the world.
Creator of The Simpsons, Matt Groening, grew up in Portland. Homer works at a nuclear plant. Probably some influence there. Lots of other callbacks to the Rose City in that show.
From the beginning, environmental activists protested Trojan's very existence. There were various shutdowns in its operation for the life of the plant. By 1980, the protesters got their way and passed a ballot measure (53% - 47%) that banned further construction of nuclear plants in the state.
Several ballot measures during the 1980s and early 1990s sought to close Trojan immediately, but they were all soundly rejected. However, the last straw was another damaged steam generator tube. It was decommissioned in November of 1992 and the local power company announced in January of 1993 that they would not attempt another restart of Trojan.
The plant was imploded in 2006.
The crazy thing is that nuclear is—even with the nine-figure pricetag—the cheapest, most dependable, cleanest, and most efficient form of energy. Sure one could quibble, but then ask the Navy why its been running submarines on nuclear power for decades.
The outrage by the "greens" over nuclear does not even come close to justification. The cost-benefit for nuclear power makes it a far superior choice for energy creation and consumption.
Perhaps burying the lede... Trojan, while active, represented more than 12% of Oregon's electrical generation capacity. Let that sink in...
But, alas, we cannot have nice things. Not one of my immutable laws, but getting close...
What we do have is a remarkable patchwork of hacked-together technologies that help us get by. With fuel prices regularly in the $5-$7/gallon realm, my advocacy for the price argument for petroleum-based energy is taking a little bit of a break. Still reliable and—contrary to the greenmongering—fairly clean as well.
Solar and batteries are where they are pushing us. And it's not all bad. Plus, we can't get away from the fact that he who pays the piper picks the tune.
They pay the piper. We listen. Its the way of the world, even if the piper's tune sounds like me screeching that stupid "recorder" we played in elementary school. Forget the soulful balladeering of Crispian St. Peters.
We adjust, however. Our affiliate link will send you to some of the best non-nuclear, non-petroleum power alternatives out there.
As always,
Brian
P.S. - The Alex Epstein resource page we set up for the Natural Order Podcast is a good start if you want/need to look into any of this stuff further. Epstein is one of the foremost experts on energy and environmental policy along with being a passionate defender of human progress and individual freedom.
