The First Amendment sometimes disappoints Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant.
The Commercial Appeal reported Bryant saying that “I am disappointed in the overreaction, and that’s what it is: overreaction. It’s amazing to me that any discussion about nuclear power causes such a reaction. What other topics are we not allowed to discuss?”
Though Bryant pleads with a rhetorical flair for nuclear power to be discussed, he apparently views any concerned rumblings that resist a growing nuclear sector as “overreactions.” Nevertheless, Mississippians should always engage in a conversation which could impact our economy, environment and neighbors.
Former governor Haley Barbour and the Mississippi Energy Institute have recently sparked a conversation regarding a possibility for Mississippi to handle the nation’s nuclear waste.
If MEI’s “nuclear cluster” comes to fruition possibly 4,000 new jobs and $30 million in taxes will filter through the state. Instead of swallowing economic incentives hook, line and sinker — and rod, angler, boat and lake — Mississippians should first examine our nuclear history.
In many respects, Mississippi is a model state for nuclear activity. Since July 1, 1985, the Grand Gulf Nuclear Generating Station has been producing electricity near the Mississippi River in Clairborne County. According to Entergy, the plant employs 675 people and has a $49 million payroll.
Artfully avoiding the conundrum of nuclear waste, Entergy touts the plant’s environmental benefits by helping to reduce pollutants. Nuclear energy decreases sulfur dioxide emission which can lead to acid rain, nitrogen oxide waste which contributes to smog and carbon dioxide which contributes to global warming fears.
In fact, Entergy plans to expand Grand Gulf’s capacity from 1.2 gigawatts to 1.4 gigawatts. When this occurs, Mississippi will host the largest single-unit nuclear power plant in country. Thus far, Grand Gulf’s safety record is stellar. With potentially the world’s fifth largest single-unit reactor, Mississippi is clearly a nuclear state.
Before we say “Take that, Iran” or continue to ignore the Fukushima leak fiasco in Japan, Mississippians need to remember that two nuclear warheads were detonated on our turf in the 1960s.
Project Dribble refers to the key Mississippi component of the Vela Uniform Program for nuclear testing in the U.S. According to history professor Stephen Cresswell, the U.S. sought an underground experiment site. Officials were concerned that the U.S.S.R. could evade the 1963 treaty which banned nuclear tests affecting the atmosphere and water by detonating bombs beneath the ground. In theory, if the U.S. could gauge the seismic activity of an underground test, then the Soviets could be thwarted. Hence, the allure of the Tatum Salt Dome, 28 miles southwest of Hattiesburg.
For the war effort, Project Salmon was tested in Mississippi. At 10:00 am on Oct. 22, 1964, a nuclear test one-third the size of the Hiroshima bomb occurred at the bottom of a 2,710-foot shaft within the theoretically impermeable salt formation.
Beneath at least eight aquifer layers, the 5.3 kiloton bomb created a 110 ft. salt-lined cavity intended to test future explosives. Two years later on Dec. 3, 1966, the Project Sterling was detonated. Still later, two gas explosions for Project Miracle Play were conducted within the salt dome.
During the tests, no radionuclides were released. Success. However, when nuclear scientists later came to analyze the site, nuclear waste was released as they bored a hole through the concrete plug to the contaminated salt dome. Clean-up ensued. A 1999 report confirmed that no leak now exists. Still, residential status remains prohibited near the test zone.
Apparently, Lamar County could weather quite an attack. 100 locals were temporarily employed as truck drivers for the scientists. 400 residents were evacuated for Salmon. The government compensated their inconvenience to the rate of $10 an adult, $5 a child.
Residents said the shock was far greater than they had been led to believe. A Hattiesburg American editorial suggested that the patriotic duty for U.S. security superseded the interests of the rather powerless locals.
Today, Lamar County residents who remember the tests still claim that high rates of local cancer have been ignored by the government. Water is now piped in to residents in order to allay fears.
To this day, Mississippi remains the only state east of the Rockies to endure a nuclear explosion. Geologically, Mississippi may be an ideal place to store nuclear waste since Yucca Mountain, Nevada is no longer an option. Never mind that underground nuclear waste storage is a federal crime. Mississippi once rented out our citizens homes to nuclear interests as cheaply as a Lincoln per child.
Governor Bryant, what should our next price be?
Thomas McMillin is a senior southern studies major from Madison.
