If you happen to know anyone at the Maryland PIRG, NIRS, Counter Punch or other groups who are gloating about the recent Constellation Energy announcement that they are not interested in moving forward with building the Calvert Cliffs Unit 3 nuclear plant at the present time, show them this video from Southern Company's Plant Vogtle. Ask them to explain to the children of out of work construction specialists, welders, electronics technicians, and nuclear plant operators why they think that halting the investment was a good thing in our current economy.
I once heard an interesting description about the words used to describe economic conditions.
When someone in the next town loses their job, you might think that there is an economic slowdown. When your neighbor loses his job, you might call it a recession. When you lose your job, you might consider it a depression.Based on conversations that I overheard yesterday in my new hometown of Lynchburg, VA, which is the home of Areva North America, the supplier of the reactor proposed at Calvert Cliffs, the nuclear industry slowdown has turned into a recession. (Translation - neighbors are losing their jobs.) Reassignments may start happening as early as the end of this month.
There might not be too much sympathy about this nuclear industry recession among people who have been experiencing the national recession for several years, but it will be difficult for the nuclear industry to do much to help if organized groups who seem to prefer burning vast quantities of natural gas keep doing everything they can do destroy our ability to build new facilities.
Hat tip to Jarret Adams at the Areva Blog for the link to the Southern Company video. 1,300 Workers Already On Site at U.S. Nuclear Plant Project
