Jobs, waste and cancer clusters: Puebloans express split opinions on nuclear at town hall
Over 75% of speakers at a town hall last month said they opposed a nuclear replacement for the retiring Comanche 3 power plant, but opinions were split down the middle at a second town hall on March 27, hosted by the Board of Pueblo County Commissioners at the Colorado State Fair Creative Arts Building.
Thirteen individuals — many of them union workers — spoke of the career and tax benefits that a nuclear power plant would bring following the planned closure of the Comanche 3 coal plant in 2031. Another 13 explicitly expressed concerns about the feasibility and safety of a nuclear plant.
Nate Gutierrez, the business manager and financial secretary of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 111, was among those to speak in favor of a nuclear replacement. He said nuclear was the only sufficient option to replace the income lost by Comanche 3 workers after closure.
"These jobs are highly skilled, and they'll be available for your kids and your grandkids," he said. "We want that opportunity to continue here. These folks want to continue to live here and raise their kids here. They want to continue to be your neighbors."
Prior to public comments from 30 total individuals, presentations were given by Pueblo Innovative Solutions Advisory Committee chair Frances Koncilja and Flibe Energy President Kirk Sorensen.
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Sorensen, who is a retired NASA engineer, came to the Steel City from Huntsville, Alabama, to speak about Lithium Fluoride Thorium Reactors (LFTR) being developed by Flibe. LFTRs are fueled by thorium instead of uranium to eliminate long-lived waste present in older reactors, according to Flibe's website.
"The best way to avoid nuclear waste is not to make it in the first place and to have nuclear reactors that use up all their fuel... It's based on liquid fuel instead of solid fuel," Sorensen said. "It's different than just about every nuclear reactor out there."
Other benefits of thorium-based reactors highlighted on Flibe's website include built-in technology to prevent meltdowns and efficient power conversion systems.
Terrorist threats, cancer risk among concerns raised by nuclear critics
As with last month's town hall, many people opposed to nuclear coming to Pueblo continued to raise concerns about the possibility of a nuclear plant being a target for terrorism and a catalyst for creating a childhood "cancer cluster" in Pueblo.
"It's sad when we are relegated to only having so few opportunities that we have to poison our communities with nuclear power plants," Pueblo resident Augie Garcia said. "Please think and do better for this community."
Jamie Valdez, organizing manager of the climate justice group Mothers Out Front, questioned a nuclear power plant's ability to bring an "economic boost," noting that even with the coal plant's presence in Colorado, Pueblo has remained a low-income community.
"With our medium household income hovering right around $44,000 per year — I'm sorry that is not what I consider an economic boost," Valdez said. "The sales pitches are no different now... They're selling jobs in the economy. What they're not telling us is that they come at the expense of our health and local environment."
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Pueblo Chieftain reporter James Bartolo can be reached at JBartolo@gannett.com. Support local news, subscribe to The Pueblo Chieftain at subscribe.chieftain.com.
This article originally appeared on The Pueblo Chieftain: Does Pueblo want nuclear? Here's what was said at the latest town hall
