WRITER, Charles Young SENIOR STAFF. “West Virginia Legislature Passes Bill to Repeal Nuclear Power Plant Ban.” WV News, 7 Feb. 2022, https://www.wvnews.com/statejournal/news/west-virginia-legislature-passes-bill-to-repeal-nuclear-power-plant-ban/article_ef65debe-844a-11ec-94c5-238f3d002621.html.
Recently in West Virginia, a bill was passed to repeal its nuclear power plant ban. The bill was passed by a vote of 76-16, with eight people absent. It was passed by the Senate on January 25th, by a vote of 27-7 with three members absent. The bill was extremely short, simply stating that two sections of the ban need to be repealed. With 88 percent of West Virginia’s electricity coming from coal-fired power plants in 2020, this change will please a lot of people. Almost everyone is excited and pushing for this, just some in different ways. Some of those who voted no did so because they think there is a better way to introduce nuclear energy. Del. Evan Hansen says he voted against the bill because he thinks there should be more guidelines, and he is the co-sponsor of a separate bill that does just that. According to him, “it does it in the context of providing protections for ratepayers and trying to steer new nuclear plants to the sites that currently have coal-fired plants, where they are needed most.”
I am shocked to hear that West Virginia has a ban on nuclear power plants, and I cannot really imagine why that is. It could be because nuclear is dangerous in the wrong hands, but factually it is far better for our atmosphere than coal-fired ones. If this is the case, I think the stigma against nuclear power needs to be eradicated more, as we will probably have to turn to it in the coming years. What I found interesting and pleasing to me was the fact that most of the people who opposed the bill didn’t necessarily dislike nuclear power, they either wanted to learn more about it or go about it in a different fashion. This makes sense to me, and I think Hansen makes a lot of good points. West Virginia’s first plan of action with nuclear power should be replacing the coal ones, but without some sort of mandate for it these plants probably won’t want to go through making that change. In my opinion, although obviously better having nuclear rather than not at all, this bill should have been thought through a little more, to ensure it can be the most effective as possible.
I definitely agree that a ban on nuclear energy is silly, as the cleanest countries like France majority get their energy from nuclear. Do you believe that this fear will stop the US’s ability to get clean?
I think it probably will, and especially with the conditions of Russia and Ukraine right now, fear of nuclear weapons is probably heightening right now, and with that is the fear of nuclear power in general.
I agree that its great that they are lifting this ban, but a little sad that it didn’t happen a long time ago. How do you think we should eliminate the stigma against nuclear power?
I think that it will be difficult in some cases, but if we are able to publicize the upsides of nuclear power, or compare it to other forms of new energy, hopefully people will see that it is one of our best and only options.
I completely agree with your opinion about the importance of nuclear power, as well as the stigma around it. I think that the word nuclear can cause fear, and we should try to educate the population on the fact that it is actually a very clean energy source.
I totally agree, and I think it should start in school. I never thought too much about nuclear energy or power before APES, therefore I wasn’t ever very scared of it, but through this class I have realized it is efficient in ways that no other new energy is. I think if we can start educating people younger, the stigma will decrease.