BoatBanter.com - McCain Touts Nuke Power at 'China Syndrome' Plant

hk wrote:

McCain Touts Nuclear Power's Safety At Plant That Had a Partial Meltdown

(CBS)
From CBS News' John Bentley:

(NEWPORT, MICH.) – To show his support for nuclear power, John McCain
toured the Enrico Fermi Nuclear Plant here today, comparing the safety
of the plant to the Navy's warships he was stationed on.

"My experience with nuclear power goes back many years to being
stationed onboard the USS Enterprise, the first nuclear powered aircraft
carrier," he said. "I knew it was safe then, and I know it’s safe now."

The plant, 30 miles outside Detroit, hasn't always had the best safety
record. One of the reactors had a partial meltdown in 1966, and although
there were no injuries or release of radiation, the accident allegedly
led to the term “China syndrome,” after an engineer said the nuclear
reaction “could go all the way to China.”

McCain wants to build 45 nuclear power plants by 2030, although he
admits the storage of the spent fuel is a problem that still needs to be
dealt with.

Barack Obama has also expressed reservations about spent nuclear fuel,
and McCain sought to point out further differences between them.

"Sen. Obama has said that expanding our nuclear power plants, quote
'doesn’t make sense for America,' unquote," he said. "He also says no to
nuclear storage and no to reprocessing. I could not disagree more."

Obama’s stance on nuclear power, however, is somewhat more nuanced. Back
in December, he said “I start off with the premise that nuclear energy
is not optimal...I am not a nuclear energy proponent,” but today at his
town hall in Youngstown, Ohio, he seemed more open to the idea.

“We’ll double the amount of our energy that comes from renewable sources
by the end of my first term,” Obama said. “It means finding safer ways
to use nuclear power and store nuclear waste.

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Anyone wanna bet the Old Geezer didn't even know about the troubles at
the Fermi plant?

Oh...and as for nuclear power aboard ships...

Sub leak sparks radiation alarm

TOKYO: Water containing a small amount of radiation leaked from a US
nuclear-powered submarine that stopped by Japan earlier this year, the
US Navy and Japanese government said yesterday, prompting calls by civic
groups for full disclosure.

The leak, which was too small to have any impact on the environment, was
found during an inspection of the nuclear-powered Houston in Hawaii, the
Japanese Foreign Ministry said, citing information provided by the US
government.

The incident comes at a time when the United States has been trying to
allay fears over the planned stationing of nuclear-powered aircraft
carrier George Washington in Japan, the only country to have suffered
nuclear attacks.

A civic group opposed to the deployment of the George Washington said
the leak raises doubts about the safety of the US Navy's nuclear-powered
vessels.

"The claim...that the US Navy's nuclear-powered vessels are safe and are
not susceptible to radiation leaks has completely broken down," said a
lawyer representing the group.

Many Japanese are sensitive about the use of nuclear power by military
forces. The Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki came under nuclear
attack from the US at the end of the Second World War in August 1945.

The radiation leak from the Houston came to light after an incident last
month, when the submarine was in dry dock,

A spokesman for Commander Submarine Forces, Pacific in Pearl Harbor,
said more than a gallon of water that contained a small amount of
radioactivity spilled out from a pipe onto a crew member of the Houston.
But no contamination was found on the sailor.

It was unclear when the radiation leak had started, and whether there
had been any leak while the Houston was in Sasebo in southern Japan from
late March to early April.

"But seeing as we couldn't rule it out, we notified the government of
Japan," he said.

"It was a very minute amount, and there was never any danger to the
reactor of the ship or to the crew of the ship, or for that matter to
the public," he added.

Twenty-four hour radiation monitoring conducted by the Japanese
government had revealed no irregularities, the Japanese Foreign Ministry
said.

The aircraft carrier George Washington is scheduled to arrive in
Yokosuka, southwest of Tokyo, late next month. A fire broke out on board
the nuclear-powered carrier in May, adding to concerns about the ship's
safety. The US Navy replaced the George Washington's captain after the
incident.

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And let's not forget the Thresher...

You'd think an Old Geezer like McCain would remember these events...if
it didn't have Alzheimer's.

:)