Dominion's Proposed Third Reactor

In my hometown of Louisa County, Virginia there has been an ongoing debate concerning the county’s largest employer. Dominion Power, which owns and operates a nuclear power station in the county applied for a permit to build a third nuclear reactor unit at its current plant. The reason for building the third reactor at the plant according to Dominion is due the increasing growth of Virginia and is demand for more energy. The proposed reactor is estimated that it will provide an additional 375,000 homes with power throughout Northern and Central Virginia.
The plan has however met opposition from some residents of Louisa County. Many people have a fear of anything that involves nuclear energy or radioactive material. According to a Daily Progress article, some of the concerns that have been expressed by the general public involve the addition of more hazardous waste and its effects on the environment and possible water and air pollution. Also, a large fear is that the addition of another reactor will decrease the water level and increased temperature of the lake that the plant uses to cool its original two reactors.
Although these are ligament concerns, many of these fears come from an informed public. Before a third nuclear reactor can be built, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission must first come and evaluate the situation. According the commissions finding, they stated that there would be little to no affect on air and water quality from the proposed third reactor and that because this new reactor would not depend on the lake for cooling, water levels under normal conditions would only be affected slightly. Because of the lack of negative effects on the environment and the people around the power plant, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has stated that it believes that the project will benefit residents of Louisa County.
Even after scientific studies conducted by the NRC prove safe, people still have concerns about the project. I feel that these concerns are misguided due to not understanding how nuclear energy is produced. Nuclear energy is an extremely clean and efficient method of producing energy. There are no emissions of greenhouse gases and water used to cool these reactors never comes in contact with radioactive material. Radioactive waste is the only “pollution” that is generated by nuclear energy, and is probably the most controversial. Even still, the amount of nuclear waste generated by nuclear reactors is minuscule. To put this into perspective, if all the nuclear waste ever generated in the U.S. was stacked up together it would only cover the area the size of a football field 10 feet deep. This example also includes nuclear waste from defense related uses, so the real amount generated from nuclear reactors is even less. It’s hard to argue that nuclear energy isn’t the best method of creating power.