Small Alaska village eyeing nuclear power
04 Feb 2005 05:10:37 GMT
Source: Reuters
ANCHORAGE, Alaska, Feb 3 (Reuters) - Fed up with the hassles of importing expensive diesel fuel, residents of one interior Alaska village are trying to install a miniature nuclear reactor that advocates say could be a model for clean energy production in remote sites.
Officials in Galena, an Athabascan Indian village on the Yukon River, are pursuing an offer from Toshiba Corp. <6502.T> to install an experimental reactor that would heat and light the town.
The 700 residents of the village, 275 miles (440 km) west of Fairbanks, say they have to cope with electricity bills that are three times the national average.
The reactor would be free and require no attendance, Toshiba says. Galena would pay for only the operating costs, according to news reports.
Galena officials met with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday. If the commission approves the plan, the reactor would be the first new one permitted in the United States since the early 1980s, according to an Alaska Public Radio Network report on Thursday.
Energy to power electricity is important to Galena. Winter temperatures can dip below minus 60 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 51 Celsius). Daylight is scarce because of the short days during the winter.
Galena is powered by generators burning diesel that is barged in during the Yukon River's ice-free months. That is costly and carries its own environmental risks because diesel can spill.
Tribal officials from around the region and environmentalists say they are suspicious of the nuclear proposal.
"Why is Toshiba doing this, giving it away for free, trying to foist this experimental technology on rural Alaska when they can't even license this in Japan?" said Pam Miller, program manager for Alaska Community Action on Toxics, an Anchorage-based environmental group.
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