Small-scale nuclear reactors pose big waste problems

Two bills moving through the Montana Senate would encourage siting nuclear reactors and their radioactive waste in Montana (HB 623); and allow importing and enriching uranium from out of state (HB 696).

Companies pushing “small scale” reactors claim they just produce tiny “waste pellets.” Once they reach their 30-year lifespan, though, the contaminated reactors also become radioactive waste in need of security and safety monitoring for hundreds or thousands of years.

Companies will come and go as profits and bankruptcy protections allow, but their contaminated byproducts will remain.

The likely beneficiaries of these incredibly expensive reactors are the crypto-currency peddlers, whose operations use tremendous amounts of electricity while producing scant few jobs and little tax revenue. They will enrich a handful of investors, while Montana ratepayers will ultimately backup the costs of their production capacity.

This is the time to speak up.

– Perry Gliessman, Butte