WATCH: How Nuclear Power Will Revolutionize Idaho

You can make a good argument that Idaho is the center of the nuclear world.  Idaho National Laboratory is at the cutting edge of research, including the development of small-scale reactors that could revolutionize energy supply in this country and elsewhere.  Nuclear power has been with us for a very long time, but has battled opposition and sometimes bad publicity.  I was a witness to this as a young man when I was sent to cover a site area emergency at a plant in upstate New York.  It turned out to be a scare, but nothing significant.

Hollywood and Media Created a Dangerous Mythology

News coverage generally wasn’t favorable.  One day I was wrapping up an interview with a spokesman for a utility that operated two nuclear facilities.  As I was leaving, he asked me if he could get my opinion about the technology.  I told him I was indifferent.  This was after I had been exposed to a couple of Hollywood blockbusters designed to disparage the industry.  Both pictures hadn’t moved my needle.

Talk to the People Who Know How it Works

A few years later, I talked with an old childhood friend who was a tech in the industry, after he did eight years on a nuclear-powered submarine in the Navy.  He assured me of the safety, and he’s a liberal living in Seattle!  The more I’ve learned, I’ve moved from indifference to support for nuclear power.  Keep in mind, nobody died at Three Mile Island and Fukushima.  The sloppy Soviet policy was to blame for Chernobyl.

For a look at how traditional reactors work, I’m posting a recent video below.