FRANKFORT, Ky -- A moratorium on construction of nuclear power plants in Kentucky is about to be lifted. A moratorium keeping nuclear power plants from being built in the state is about to end as the House votes 65-28 to approve the Senate-passed bill.
The bill sets out a stiff set of regulations should a company desire to locate a nuclear plant in the state, lawmakers say it would take ten years to go through the regulations and construction. Rep. Gerald Watkins of Paducah says the economic impact is estimated at 3000 construction jobs, 1000 permanent jobs, with about a $470 million economic impact on a local community.
Opponents of the measure fear lifting the moratorium due to the Maxey Flats nuclear waste dump in Fleming County that leaked low level nuclear waste and became a Super Fund Clean-up Site.