Maine Voices: As need for electricity grows, nuclear power should play larger role

Small and safe reactors can be built close to where the demand is greatest, thus eliminating lengthy, wide transmission lines, dams and fossil fuels.


By Richard Bedard Special to the Press Herald

EXCERPTS:

The former Republican in me says it is OK to cut a tree, because our need for electricity is so great. Oh, how I miss Dick Hill, longtime University of Maine mechanical engineering professor, at a time like this.
His mind would have done the math, and when the ever-growing demand for a dependable electric grid was factored into the equation of need versus ability to produce the power, he would have been left with one conclusion: We will have no choice in the future other than nuclear power, which is considered by Steven Pinker and other scientists to be the safest alternative to what we now have.

The recent “yes” vote to stop the Central Maine Power corridor from cutting more trees to enlarge it enough to make room for an additional transmission line leads one to believe that more electricity ratepayers and voters also see nuclear power as playing a larger role in our future.

As we add the difficulty of being allowed to build transmission lines to not putting dams on our rivers or no longer using fossil fuels in the generation of electricity, our remaining choices are few.

For those who cling to the idea that a satisfactory solution to our electric needs can be solved with various renewable means of generating all the power needed by our advanced society, Hill, who taught at UMaine for 46 years, would have gotten out his sharp pencil, done the math and sadly shaken his head “no.”

If we take a realistic look at our current demand for dependable electric power, and project what will be needed in the future; compared to the best that renewable sources can be expected to provide on a planet undergoing climate changes that will have a profound effect on many of the renewable methods being developed, the conclusion leads back to nuclear power.

For those of us who have worked in the nuclear compartments of submarines when they were hot, it is apparent that small and safe nuclear reactors can be built close to where the demand is greatest, thus eliminating lengthy, wide transmission lines, dams and fossil fuels.......................

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Apparently those voters against enlarging the CMP corridor for a variety of reasons are also sending a clear message as to what the future holds, and we best get on with it as soon as possible. Choices are never easy, but when we come to the fork in the road we must take it, as there is no backing up. Yes, we have met the enemy – and he is us.

We made the choice long ago for electricity, and it is ever more obvious that the supply must be dependable. Therefore, the common-sense science of men like Dick Hill will catch up with and overtake us.

Read the full piece at:

https://www.pressherald.com/2021/12/28/maine-voices-as-need-for-ele...

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Comment by Kenneth Capron on December 28, 2021 at 6:08pm

Perfect Location? Blaine House Garages

Comment by Penny Gray on December 28, 2021 at 12:12pm

Amen.

 

Maine as Third World Country:

CMP Transmission Rate Skyrockets 19.6% Due to Wind Power

 

Click here to read how the Maine ratepayer has been sold down the river by the Angus King cabal.

Maine Center For Public Interest Reporting – Three Part Series: A CRITICAL LOOK AT MAINE’S WIND ACT

******** IF LINKS BELOW DON'T WORK, GOOGLE THEM*********

(excerpts) From Part 1 – On Maine’s Wind Law “Once the committee passed the wind energy bill on to the full House and Senate, lawmakers there didn’t even debate it. They passed it unanimously and with no discussion. House Majority Leader Hannah Pingree, a Democrat from North Haven, says legislators probably didn’t know how many turbines would be constructed in Maine if the law’s goals were met." . – Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting, August 2010 https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/wind-power-bandwagon-hits-bumps-in-the-road-3/From Part 2 – On Wind and Oil Yet using wind energy doesn’t lower dependence on imported foreign oil. That’s because the majority of imported oil in Maine is used for heating and transportation. And switching our dependence from foreign oil to Maine-produced electricity isn’t likely to happen very soon, says Bartlett. “Right now, people can’t switch to electric cars and heating – if they did, we’d be in trouble.” So was one of the fundamental premises of the task force false, or at least misleading?" https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/wind-swept-task-force-set-the-rules/From Part 3 – On Wind-Required New Transmission Lines Finally, the building of enormous, high-voltage transmission lines that the regional electricity system operator says are required to move substantial amounts of wind power to markets south of Maine was never even discussed by the task force – an omission that Mills said will come to haunt the state.“If you try to put 2,500 or 3,000 megawatts in northern or eastern Maine – oh, my god, try to build the transmission!” said Mills. “It’s not just the towers, it’s the lines – that’s when I begin to think that the goal is a little farfetched.” https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/flaws-in-bill-like-skating-with-dull-skates/

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Hannah Pingree on the Maine expedited wind law

Hannah Pingree - Director of Maine's Office of Innovation and the Future

"Once the committee passed the wind energy bill on to the full House and Senate, lawmakers there didn’t even debate it. They passed it unanimously and with no discussion. House Majority Leader Hannah Pingree, a Democrat from North Haven, says legislators probably didn’t know how many turbines would be constructed in Maine."

https://pinetreewatch.org/wind-power-bandwagon-hits-bumps-in-the-road-3/

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