Great news from The Daily Caller:
New Report Makes The Case For Why We Shouldn’t Let Nuclear Plants Shut Down
A new study on Pennsylvania’s nuclear industry paints a worrisome picture of what could be lost if reactors continues to be shut down.
The new research (PDF file) found that Pennsylvania’s five nuclear plants account for 15,900 in-state, high paying, full-time jobs and generate $69 million in net state tax revenues each year. The reactors keep electricity prices low, reducing Pennsylvania residents’ power bills by about $788 million annually.
“Nuclear power keeps power prices lower than they would be otherwise,” Dean Murphy, an economist who coauthored the research for an economics consulting firm called The Brattle Group, told The Daily Caller. “It’d be a huge drag for the economy if the nuclear power plants closed and those prices went up. A big part of the positive effect is that the economy multiplies the benefits of cheap power.”
America currently operates 99 nuclear reactors across 61 commercially operating nuclear power plants, according to the EIA. The average plant employs between 400 and 700 high-skilled workers, has a payroll of about $40 million and contributes $470 million to the local economy, according to the Nuclear Energy Institute. A pair of reactors The Daily Caller New Foundation visited in April shells out $22.8 million in tax revenue each year.
“Electricity is so ubiquitous that the impact is extremely widespread,” Murphy continued. “The aggregate effect on the economy is really big and positive. If we were to lose the plants, the economy would multiply the harm of more expensive power.”
Good to see the knee-jerk enviros being stuffed back into under their rock. Nuclear is safe, clean and when we start building new molten-salt reactors, we will find the cost to be very low indeed. The new designs are walk-away safe and since you no longer need the huge pressure vessel, the cost to build and operate is minimal.
Compare that to our ninny President Barry who talked about how under his plan, electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket.
