After all, no one is elected president alone. It takes power to make power — Obama knows this. He enlisted the help of influential party leaders, strategists and sponsors to help grab the presidency. Now it’s time to repay the political favors.

Enter Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. The Nevada Democrat recently announced a small victory for himself and his constituents. It seems that the good senator managed to convince President Obama to remove funds for a small scrap of desert in southern Nevada from the 2010 federal budget.

It may not seem like much, but this parcel of land — a little more than an hour’s drive from Las Vegas — has been the center of attention for Nevada lawmakers and residents for some time. And the attention isn’t because of gold, oil or any other valuable commodity…

The Mountain That Could Have Solved Our Energy Problems

The section of Nevada desert in question is the location of Yucca Mountain. More specifically, we’re talking about the site of the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository.

Yucca Mountain is on federal land — right next door to the fabled Nevada test site where nuclear weapons were detonated above and below ground during the Cold War. For the past several decades, federal money has been allocated to develop Yucca Mountain as the nation’s main safe keeper of radioactive waste generated by nuclear power facilities. To date, the government has spent more than $9 billion studying and developing the site.

Now it looks as if plans for a national site for reactor waste storage have been derailed. It all comes down to Reid’s “favor” from the new commander in chief…

The Senate leader has been fighting the Yucca site for years. And now that Reid is in a position with considerable influence, it is doubtful the Yucca Mountain project will move forward for many years to come — if ever. Anti-nuclear activists and Nevada residents have mounted a ferocious battle against any nuclear waste storage in the area.

So what does this mean for nuclear power plants?

Without a national storage site available—and no plans on moving forward with a new site in the foreseeable future—nuclear power plants will have to continue to safely contain spent radioactive waste in their own storage facilities.

The Cards Are Dealt in Nuclear Power’s Favor

Contrary to what we see happening with the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository, nuclear power remains one of our most promising energy sources of this century.

First, nuclear is a carbon-neutral power source. Environmental Protection Agency rule changes are causing problems for coal-fired power plants as we type. Carbon caps stand to force the dirtiest plants to pay big money to upgrade or close down operations entirely. Meanwhile, nuclear power’s only immediate byproduct is steam. According to the EPA, two-thirds of the power in the country is generated by fossil fuels like coal and natural gas. We as a nation could easily cut back on these carbon-producing sources with more nuclear plants. The only environmental concern is the radioactive waste…

Then there’s the fact that nuclear power is a proven, effective large-scale source of electricity. Yes, efforts are being made in the alternative energy field. But even with aggressive expansion, alternatives like solar will lag far behind traditional forms of power generation. Wind power, for example, is expected increase only 5% in the next decade…

On the other hand, nuclear power technology is proven and ready for expansion. In fact, it may be the only way we can meet our growing electricity demand issues…

Best,
Greg Guenthner

May 15, 2009

Cash in on the President’s Big Mistake was originally featured in the Penny Sleuth.

The administration’s health care summit takes place this week. It is widely expected that the president will make official his pledge to lift the limitations on embryonic stem cell (eSC) research. Last week, Democratic Sen. Tom Harkin and Republican Sen. Arlen Specter introduced a bill that would make it illegal for any future president to impose such limits.

Once again, the media are getting the stem cell story wrong. This change will have little impact on companies working on SC therapies. As I’ve said many times, the ability to create induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells from adult cells has changed everything. The use of embryonic cells in future therapies is now unnecessary, if not foolish.

This is not to say, though, that lifting the ban on the use of federal funding will not produce winners. The reason is that stem cells have important uses beyond therapies that were stifled by the funding ban.

Theoretically, it was possible to privately fund research on unapproved eSC lines under the Bush ban. To do so, though, researchers would have had to cut themselves off from any other work involving federal grant monies. In most cases, disconnecting from the intricate network of federally funded research was a practical impossibility. You would be hard pressed to find a university or big pharmaceutical company that does not accept government grants in some form. The impact of the ban was, therefore, enormous.

The field of research that suffered most was genetic disease drug discovery. Specifically, it was research aimed at finding cures for the inherited genetic diseases that afflict millions of Americans alone. What scientists have long wanted is access to stem cells that carry the diseases they want to treat. With an unlimited number of disease-carrying cells, potential treatments could be tested and analyzed with far greater efficiency.

Now, let’s move to the thorium front…

I previously told you about The Thorium Energy Independence and Security Act of 2008. Sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch, this bill is designed in large part to produce an alternative solution to the problem of nuclear wastes. Thorium reactor technologies fit that bill for two reasons. Not only do they produce fewer byproducts, they can be used to burn the wastes produced by other nuclear technologies.

Last week, President Obama dramatically moved the thorium industry forward. He announced that he would kill the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste depository project. This is despite the $9 billion already spent on the project.

Reid, of course, is bragging about his role in the decision. So where does this leave us? The Yucca Mountain project, located in Reid’s home state of Nevada, was considered critical to the future of nuclear power generation in America. Since Obama, Reid and Pelosi all promote nuclear power, this significantly increases the likelihood that thorium reactor technologies will be fast-tracked.

Sincerely,
Patrick Cox

March 4, 2009

The Media Are Wrong on Stem Cells… Again was originally featured in the Penny Sleuth.