Newspaper should report on America’s new investment in nuclear power [letter]

On Oct. 28, the White House announced an $80 billion partnership with Westinghouse to finance construction of a group of large new nuclear reactors in the United States.

This news was reported by The New York Times, The Washington Post, NBC and others. Unless I missed it, LNP | LancasterOnline has been noticeably silent regarding this news, despite its readers having a vested interest in the subject. There are several nuclear power plants in this region, and planned data centers are driving the need for more electricity. Plus, Westinghouse has its headquarters in Pennsylvania.

Perhaps the newspaper’s silence was driven by the lack of details that came with the White House announcement. I have some questions:

1. Is this an open-ended gift (or loan) to Westinghouse, or does it require the turnkey completion of a specified number of nuclear plants?

2. Keeping in mind the actual per-unit cost of about $18 billion for the only reactors of this type ever completed in the United States, the actual number of nuclear plants that could be built with this money is probably a lot less than the numbers being floated (eight to 10). Have alternate, lower-cost power sources been considered?

3. Who will operate these nuclear plants? Will it be the federal government? Or are they being gifted to a chosen group of existing or newly formed investor-owned utilities?

4. What will power the current data centers planned for short-term completion, given that the estimated completion times of these new nuclear power plants are three to six years (or longer)?

5. Why does this deal apparently do nothing to solve the long-term nuclear waste problem?

I look forward to any reporting you decide to do on the subject.

Ray Heisey

Manheim Township