Editorial: Lots of 'ifs' in Missouri's latest nuclear gambit
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On Thursday, Gov. Jay Nixon and executives from Ameren and nuclear-industry giant Westinghouse announced a grand plan to seek a $452 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy to develop the next generation of nuclear reactors: small, modular units that produce about 225 megawatts of power compared to the 1,000-megawatt monsters now in disfavor.
If Westinghouse gets the grant, it says it intends to design and build the first units for use at Ameren's Callaway County plant, working with researchers at the University of Missouri's engineering programs in Columbia and Rolla, thus planting the seeds for a multi-billion-dollar industry based right here in the Show-Me State.
If a chunk of that $452 million is spent in Missouri, it would be a welcome boost to the state's economy.
The key word here is "if."
If Westinghouse gets the grant, and if Congress appropriates the money, and if a market actually develops for new nuclear power, and if the smaller reactors are financially feasible, and if the industry ever figures out what to do with its dangerous waste, then, yes, the agreement could be, as Mr. Nixon said Thursday, "transformational."
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