Dismantling A Nuclear Power Plant

As you read this, what was once the world's largest nuclear power plant in Zion, Illinois (just outside of Chicago), is being dismantled. The plant, which was opened in 1973 by Exelon Corp., was moth-balled in 1998 when it became unprofitable, and has been sitting, collecting dust (and making more radioactive dust) for the past 12 years. Exelon was paying about $10 million a year just to maintain the plant, but did not want to handle demolition itself.

Now, in a first-of-its-kind deal, Excelon has transferred custody of the plant to a private dismantling company. It actually took an act of the federal government to make this happen. A demoltion company called EnergySolutions stands to get nearly $1 billion in business by taking on the project which is being funded by money Excelon set aside from utility fees for just this type of plant demoliton they knew would be needed one day.

EnergySolutions has developed a four-step plan to dismantle the Zion nuclear power plant that will most likely set the standard nationwide as America's earliest nuclear power plants start to age and must be dismantled.

First, the spent fuel rods that are housed at the plant are placed into steel canisters which are lowered into a concrete sleeve. This concrete sleeve can withstand temperatures close to 1500 degrees, tornado winds, and direct impacts of objects up to the size of a car, traveling 125 miles per hour. The sleeves, of which there will be 61 at Zion, each weighing 157 tons because of the concrete's thickness, are placed within a three-foot thick slab of more concrete, the size of a football field. The sleeves are permanently housed at the site of the nuclear plant. Vegetation growth will be encouraged to hide the concrete casks and slab. Armed guards will keep people away. The casks and armed guards will theoretically be in place as long as there is still civilization around to coordinate it all.

The next step is to dismantle the actual concrete containment domes that sat over the plant's reactors and the reactors themselves, down to the small components, until nothing is left. All of the dismantled material will then be transported to a radioactive disposal facility in Clive, Utah. Each reactor and dome will produce about 4 million cubic feet of material, roughly enough to fill 800 rail cars.

Once in Clive, Utah, the 4 million cubic feet of material will be pulverized into fist-sized chunks and buried in above ground graves which, like the sleeves and slabs back at the power plant, will be monitored and secured for as long as society exists.

While the materials are on their way to Utah, crews then begin dismantling all of the remaining structures - office buildings, etc. - and once all of that material is hauled away, crews will plant large expanses of grass, hopefully making it look like the nuclear plant was never there.

U.S. Supreme Court Orders Taxifornia Taxpayers To Continue To Help Pay For College For Illegal Immigrants

Apparently, the U.S. Supreme Court, Taxifornia Supreme Court, Illegal Immigrant rights groups, Dream Act supporters, a bunch of bleeding-heart liberals, and the three to four million illegal immigrants living in Taxifornia are all in agreement that the Taxifornia taxpayer has a money tree in their backyard, should pay for anything and everything that society asks for, no matter how ridiculous, and that once again, the 41% of us who receive no government aid need to continue to foot the bill for the other 59% to continue to live a standard of life that frankly, they do not earn themselves like the rest of us.

According to the Boston Harold, “The U.S. Supreme Court decision Monday to uphold California’s policy of granting reduced, in-state tuition to college students who are illegal immigrants is likely to bolster similar proposals across the nation as well as a California measure to provide financial aid for the undocumented.”

This means that the Taxifornia taxpayer will need to foot the bill for a tuition discount for 41,000 students that rings up at annual costs of $23,000 at a UC school, $11,000 at a Cal State school, and $4,400 at community colleges. Correct me if I am wrong, but was not the in-state tuition discount set up so that the children of people who had lived and worked in Taxifornia – paid Taxifornia income tax, and worse yet, federal income tax, could get a break when sending their kids to college? Why then, would that discount, at the taxpayer’s expense, be extended to the non-income-tax-paying non-citizen?

Not that I was ever in agreement with the taxpayer footing tuition bills (Yes, I’m one of those nut-jobs that believes you should pay for college yourself), but this really continues to be a step too far for a state government that spends way too much money and relies too heavily on the hard work of some people, while completely turning a blind eye to law-breaking and lack of hard work from others.

You want to go to college? You want to send your kids to college? Then start saving. Start putting money away. You and your parents shouldn’t get to not plan ahead, then on high school graduation day, stick your hand out and expect us to foot the bill.

So, if this wasn’t bad enough, the Boston Harold continues with their story: “Undocumented students and their advocates said they will use the court’s action to push for passage of the California Dream Act, state legislation that would allow illegal immigrants to receive campus-based aid and the state’s Cal Grants for their bills at UC, Cal State and community colleges. It could cost about $32.2 million annually, according to an analysis by the Assembly Appropriations Committee. The measure, proposed by Democratic Assemblyman Gil Cedillo, recently passed the state Assembly and is being considered in the state Senate. The Legislature approved a similar measure but former Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed it last year as he had with previous versions. Gov. Jerry Brown, a Democrat, ‘supports the principles of the Dream Act and would closely consider any legislation that reaches his desk,’ his spokesman Evan Westrup said Monday."

So, not only is Taxifornia asking the idiot taxpayer to help foot tuition bills for illegal immigrants, but it may soon be asking them to foot the bill for state-funded financial aid as well.

No accountability, no personal responsibility, and no respect for the law of the land for some, and accountability, personal responsibility, and a heavy load of taxes for others. Freedom to do what you want, when you want, all with no consequences for some, and jail time if you don’t pay your taxes for others.

Yet Another Tax...The "Crash" Tax

According to California AAA CEO Thomas McKernan, "more than 50 California cities have imposed a new fee for police, fire, and other emergency services that respond to traffic crashes." In some cities, the taxes are only imposed on those who are at fault, but in some cases, even drivers who were not at fault are forced to pay a crash tax, even though they were minding their own business being a model driver and in possession of state-mandated car insurance, and paid up on their vehicle license fees.

Time and time again, this ridiculous state and these ridiculous local governments never cease to amaze me. We pay sales tax - we pay property tax - we pay business tax - we pay income tax - we pay gas tax - we pay car tax - we pay phone tax - Do I need to continue? So, now, greedy government officials are telling us that even with all of these taxes, there is no money to pay police, fire and paramedics to show up at the scene of a car accident?

To top it off, there are even more sinister forces at work with these crash taxes...the slimeballs at the collection agencies. That's right, I said slimeballs. While I have never been on the collectee end of the collection agency equation, I did at one time hire one to collect some money that was owed to me. What a mistake that was! They took my fee money, collected my money from my customer, then turned around and spent it without giving me a dime. Like I said, slimeballs.

So, where was I? Oh yeah, the slimeballs at the collection agencies. While local government officials might not be the dullest tools in the shed, they are not necessarily the masterminds of this tax. Collection agencies who are preying on cities strapped for cash are encouraging city governments to pass these ridiculous taxes so that the collection of them can be turned over to...you guessed it...their collection agencies...of course, with the agency getting a cut of the taxes they collect. A private company encouraging government to tax you, then getting to keep part of the money they collect for said government? That sure doesn't sound right, does it?

You will have to keep an eye out for a bill next time you are involved in a traffic accident here in the fine state of Taxifornia. With all of that being said, there may, however, be a slight glimmer of hope. Some of the folks that make up the Taxifornia State Taxislature are introducing a bill that would ban these crash taxes. Imagine that...the revenue-hungry Taxifornia State Taxislature even thinks these crash taxes are wrong! I guess we'll have to see what happens.