What Assurances can the 700 People of Galena, Alaska Give Us That Their Nuclear Reactor Will Be Used Soley For Peaceful Purposes?

Galena, Alaska's New Solid Waste Plant, Which They're Really Going to Need

The tiny town of Galena is about to get acute, little free nuclear reactor from Toshiba to solve the tricky problem of rural power generation, when you've only got a couple months a year to barge diesel up the Yukon.

If the choice is between definitely scorching the earth with coal and maybe scorching the earth with nukes, I may be open to this, particular if the design is anything like it is advertised. But the free nuke aspect of it kind of suggests a nickel bag of uranium. If they can't even get diesel up the river, I've got four words to tickle the imagination: radioactive liquid sodium fire.

But will Galena sign the non-proliferation protocols? What happens if Tok or Chicken or Egegik gets their own nuke? Will resentment over Galena's free nuke cause Whittier to build nuclear weapons in hopes of getting a free power plant, which, if you've even been to Whittier, you know the curious people in their well-protected fjord are perfectly prepared to do.