New nuke in Ohio

According to published reports, Ohio elected officials and Duke Power will announce tomorrow that a new nuclear power plant will be built at Piketon OH. It would be the third such plant in Ohio.

Now Piketon is several miles from the Ohio River, but the new plant there, if built, could be the beginning of a decline in coal-fired electric power plants, many of which line the river in my neck of the woods.

What is not generally known is that nuclear power in the past has relied on a lot of coal-fired power plants. Really. For nearly 40 years, the uranium enrichment plant at Piketon required the entire output of two coal-fired plants along the Ohio River -- Kyger Creek, near Cheshire OH, and Clifty Creek, near Madison IN. To see a brief history of how these plants supplied Piketon, go here.

To see news reports about tomorrow's announcement, go here and here.

Now that I think about it a little more, if AMP-Ohio's proposed coal-fired plant along the Ohio in Meigs County OH drew all sorts of protests, what will the prospect of a new nuclear plant generate?

Oh, how I miss being in the news business when something like this comes along.

Two weekend photos

A couple of photos from this past weekend ....

The mv Milton passes under Huntington's East End bridge heading downriver.

And the Lucedale pushes this unusual cargo past Huntington WV, with Chesapeake OH in the background.