Letters: Feb. 28, 2019

Value of plutonium not what it seems

This letter is in response to Rob Dupuy’s letter of Feb. 15 lamenting the lack of recognition of the value of plutonium. I assume that he means plutonium’s value for use as nuclear fuel.

One problem with plutonium being used in nuclear fuel, which would normally be mixed oxide fuel (mixed with uranium), is that it is far more expensive to make nuclear fuel with plutonium than just uranium. It takes human beings to make nuclear fuel assemblies. Plutonium is far more dangerous to human health than uranium, and extreme precautions must be taken in handling it.

The result is that it is simply uneconomic to do this, because nuclear power plants, which must compete with cheap natural gas and other power sources to sell electricity, cannot afford it. Mixed oxide fuel only works when it is heavily subsidized by the government, as has been done most extensively in France.

The clincher is that uranium is fairly abundant and currently inexpensive by historical standards, reducing the incentive to use plutonium even more. The value of plutonium assigned by DOE is just hypothetical, not real.

Walls being built between friends

For what we are paying for walls we could feed millions of people who are in desperate need of food-and regain and strengthen our nation’s reputation as a nation of people who care. And, ...if he (Trump) needs more walls, think about the ones he has created in our personal lives — between ethnic groups, people and friends. Count the thousands of miles of walls he has placed between us and our allies around the world and how many defensive walls he has lowered by befriending our traditional enemies. Think of the walls which were in place to protect our environment which he abandoned in a vote of 195 to 1. And he alone was smart enough to discover that hoax? No wonder he likes golf … the low score wins so it is a perfect game for him. (Would you trust him to count all his strokes?)

Spend safety tax only on safety

In 2014, Benton County voters approved a 0.3 percent Public Safety Sales Tax (PSST) that began in January 2015, continuing for 10 years. By the spring of 2018, the county had apparently funded all of its public safety needs and was sitting on an excess of $13.6 million. This excess became so embarrassing that last summer, the county solicited applications from various organizations to distribute some of their windfall. Consequently, the Boys & Girls Clubs were handed some of this money, as were organizations like Mirror Ministries and the Christian Association of Youth Mentoring.

Now, despite almost $10 million in excess PSST funds and $600,000 more pouring in to Benton County’s coffers every month, the City of West Richland is forced to ask its citizens for yet another $12.5 million in public safety money for a critically-needed new police station. When will this end?

This police station isn’t a luxury; it’s a necessity. And it seems to me that the tax money Benton County residents have already paid and will continue to pay through 2024 for public safety, would be better spent building a facility necessary for public safety rather than giving it away to religious institutions.

This story was originally published February 28, 2019 at 12:01 AM with the headline "Letters: Feb. 28, 2019."