A group of legislators in Washington wants to explore whether nuclear power can help the state meet its climate change goals.On Wednesday the state Senate approved legislation to create a task force to study the environmental costs and benefits of nuclear power, with an eye to potentially replacing fossil generation. The bipartisan group would present its recommendations to the Legislature at the end of the year, according to a report in the Tri-City Herald.Washington is currently home to a single General Electric type 5 boiling water reactor at Energy Northwest's Columbia plant near Richland. That region of the state has a particularly heavy concentration of nuclear expertise because of cleanup work at the nearby Hanford site. Last year, the Legislature granted the Tri-City Development Council $500,000 to study the potential for building a small modular reactor on Hanford property.
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Sir:
Washington should contact General Atomics here in San Diego...
Build their ready-to-go small modular reactor there.
Lots of synergies...will lower costs.
Vern Cornell
