Governor Cox has announced plans to create a nuclear campus in Tooele County, 80 miles west of Salt Lake City. Utah has agreed to accept up to 1.3 million cubic yards of Low Level Radioactive Waste from Ontario, Canada, at the Energy Solutions Clive Disposal Site there, over the next ten years. The waste will be transported by rail, and Energy Solutions will be responsible for any spills or accidents during transit. A mobile nuclear reactor has been installed at Hill Air Force Base, 30 miles north of the city.

The current Federal administration favors nuclear energy over solar, wind or geothermal options. Promoters claim that nuclear energy is safe, despite previous contamination issues in Utah, which have resulted in excessive cancer rates among “downwinders.” Proponents also conveniently ignore horrible catastrophes in Chernobyl and Fukushima, which have forced thousands of people to evacuate, due to dangerous, long-term effects.

Nuclear energy is clean, until a disaster happens. But disaster is always a possibility. Nuclear waste can only be indefinitely contained; it never goes away.