Opinion : Atomic energy missing from source talks - Frontiersman

Opinion : Atomic energy missing from source talks - Frontiersman

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With all the discussions about alternative energy sources — wind, tides, sun — nuclear energy has been largely left out of the conversation in Alaska.

Perhaps it’s understandable given that nuclear energy can be used as a weapon. Then there’s the Three Mile Island incident in 1979 that some Alaskans remember. The worst, of course, was the Chernobyl disaster in 1986 when Soviet scientists tried an experiment that went bad, causing radiation contamination over much of Europe.

However, nuclear power plants have been safely operating for decades in many countries. In fact, the Three Mile Island plant is still in operation.

The Environmental Protection Agency’s website says there are more than 100 nuclear generating plants in the U.S. alone. They generate about 19 percent of the nation’s electricity. Nuclear plants provide about 16 percent of the world’s electricity. But no new ones have been built in the United States since 1996.