NUCLEAR: Impact study test released
Coeur d'Alene Press | UPDATED 4 years, 3 months AGO
The U.S. Department of Energy has released an environmental impact study test for a new small scale nuclear reactor to be developed in Idaho at the Idaho National Lab. The environmental impact study notes that spent nuclear waste from this Versatile Test Reactor would need to be stored on site in Idaho beyond the year 2035.
The 1995 agreement negotiated by then Gov. Phil Batt with the U.S. government was that high level and spent nuclear waste would be removed from Idaho by 2035. This is a unique “treaty” between the U.S. government and the state of Idaho. The government has a terrible “track record” on living up to treaties with Indian Tribes. The state of Idaho will have to stand up to the federal government to keep this treaty from being broken.
Nuclear energy is NOT clean energy. Nuclear waste poses an environmental hazard to us humans (and other living creatures) for thousands of years, and nobody wants it stored in their “backyard.”
The tenets of this 1995 agreement between the state of Idaho and the U.S. government need to be taught as part of the Idaho state history curriculum, starting in the fourth grade, if there is to be a chance for the federal government to keep its end of this treaty.
MARK WEADICK
Coeur d’Alene