Railroad Commish Michael Williams on Nuclear Energy

Railroad Commissioner Michael Williams gives his support for nuclear energy (video). He asks what we think. I think nuclear energy is good energy. Nuclear Energy is as renewable and just as good an energy source as wind, solar, biomass, etc. and should be treated as such by the policy-makers. Texas needs nuclear energy as part of our energy future, and Austin can meet CO2 reduction goals by moving to nuclear, at lower cost than any other CO2 mitigation method. That's what I think.

The Railroad Commissioner website has a few key facts on nuclear energy in Texas:

Texas has 4 nuclear units that produce 8.8% of the state's electricity. The U.S. has 103 nuclear units - the most for any country in the world - that generate 20% of the nation's electricity. This is ahead of the world average of 16%. ...
At 4,768 MW, Texas generates the 7th largest amount of nuclear powered electricity (XLS) in the country.

Due to consolidation within the nuclear power industry, streamlined federal relicensing procedures and improved operating efficiency, operating costs have fallen from 3.31 cents per kilowatt-hour in 1988 to 1.7 cents, which is slightly lower than coal and much lower than the 3 to 5 cents per Kwh cost for natural gas-fired plants.

Michael Williams is running for re-election as Railroad Commissioner and has more videos on YouTube and Blip.tv.