SOURCE: RIVERTON RANGER

DATE: NOVEMBER 28, 1997

THE NUCLEAR OPTION

The nuclear option

Wyoming will watch with interest the global warming/greenhouse gas conference convening in Kyoto, Japan, Dec. 1.

Wyoming is the nation's leading producer of coal and uranium and may add natural gas to the list of firsts before long.

It is the burning of hydrocarbons that can add C02 and other pollutants to the atmosphere. While the debate rages between scientists as to whether global warming is real or concocted, there seems, to be momentum building to adopt standards down the road to cut down C02 emissions.

Wyoming coal is in demand because of its low sulfur. It is dean coal, but emits C02 nevertheless when burned. More abundant natural gas clean burning, too, may be an answer, but gas is a, hydrocarbon nevertheless.

Which brings up nuclear.

Wyoming's uranium industry is on a resurgent path. There were nine new nuclear power plants contracted in 1996, the most since 1985. None are, in the United States, where no new nuclear plant has been ordered since the Three-Mile Island incident in Pennsylvania.

The Kyoto conference is looking at where the world is headed into and through the 2 1 st century.

Nuclear, the power source that needs no pipelines, no unit trains, no supertankers, has to be a part of the energy mix of the future. The United Nations nuclear Energy Chief Hans Blix believes nuclear is the only answer, if emissions are to be reduced worldwide.

Japan, the second-largest economy in the world, plans to build 23 more nuclear power plants) adding to the 52 already on the line or under, construction.

China, the emerging world power, is talking a $50 billion nuclear power plant expenditure.

The antinuclear voices keep warning of nuclear accidents and unfavorable nuclear power economics.

Meanwhile, France has three fourths of its electricity coming from nuclear and leads the world in fuel rod reprocessing.

One-third of Japan's nuclear electricity comes from the fission process, While most of the rest of the world sticks with the fusion method of generating heat.

The Clinton administration is asking more money for nuclear research, so perhaps the U.S., still leading the world with 109 nuclear power stations, won't get left behind in the new nuclear technologies.

If the majority of the people on earth are to have a chance to escape poverty, they must have energy. While wind; solar, tides and the rest of the alternatives will play a small part, nuclear seems to be the best answer, if the world is truly concerned about emissions and the possibility of global warming.

That trend is positive for Wyoming's uranium industry, which has been so important to this and other counties, across Wyoming.

SIGNED

Robert A. Peck