[Old School]

Realville, Why is it that you're against surface mining but you have no problem with mining uranium for nuclear energy? If I remember correctly in the past you said you were against anything harming the environment.

I've stated many times before I think we need to be energy independent and that would include all forms of energy.

As Hoot said there is no approved plan to discard nuclear waste, wouldn't it be practical to resolve this problem first.

Apparently Barry's EPA, have a few issue's with nuclear power, from the EPA linked below.

All of the nuclear power plants in the United States together produce about 2,000 metric tons per year of radioactive waste. Currently, the radioactive waste is stored at the nuclear plants at which it is generated, either in steel-lined, concrete vaults filled with water or in above-ground steel or steel-reinforced concrete containers with steel inner canisters. The Department of Energy is currently preparing a license application to construct a permanent central repository at Yucca Mountain. If the license is granted, the repository could begin to accept waste by 2012. In addition to the fuel waste, much of the equipment in the nuclear power plants becomes contaminated with radiation and will become radioactive waste after the plant is closed. These wastes will remain radioactive for many thousands of years.



Although power plants are regulated by federal and state laws to protect human health and the environment, there is a wide variation of environmental impacts associated with power generation technologies.

Nuclear power plants use large quantities of water for steam production and for cooling. When nuclear power plants remove water from a lake or river for steam production and cooling, fish and other aquatic life can be affected.
Water pollutants, such as heavy metals and salts, build up in the water used in the nuclear power plant systems. These water pollutants, as well as the higher temperature of the water discharged from the power plant, can negatively affect water quality and aquatic life.

Although the nuclear reactor is radioactive, the water discharged from the power plant is not considered radioactive because it never comes in contact with radioactive materials.3 However, waste generated from uranium mining operations and rainwater runoff can contaminate groundwater and surface water resources with heavy metals and traces of radioactive uranium.

The construction of nuclear power plants can destroy natural habitat for animals and plants or contaminate local land with toxic by-products. For example, the storage of radioactive waste may preclude any future re-use of these contaminated lands.

http://www.epa.gov/cleanenergy/energy-an...clear.html