St. George News
(Editor’s note: Opinion pieces are published for discussion purposes only.)
A Jan. 12 opinion letter made negative assertions about nuclear energy and, particularly, a small modular reactor project being studied by the Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems.
We wish to set the record straight. We represent Southern Utah communities that are participating with UAMPS to investigate whether to build an SMR project called the Carbon Free Power Project at the Idaho National Laboratory near Idaho Falls.
Nuclear energy has provided safe, reliable, clean, carbon-free electricity for 60 years in thousands of communities and many countries across the world. While a few accidents have occurred, nuclear is the safest source of energy as measured by the amount of energy produced.
New next-generation small modular reactor technology takes safety to a whole new level, with passive safety features that make the chances of a serious radioactive contamination event infinitesimally small.
Nuclear produces the vast majority of carbon-free energy in the United States and across the world. Because it is steady and reliable, nuclear enables and complements intermittent renewable resources like wind and solar.
