Monday Open Line


On this date 61 years ago in West Milton, New York, a species of turning swords into plowshares was created. That was when the Atomic Energy Commission sold electric power from a General Electric nuclear reactor. The buyer was the Niagara-Mohawk Power Corporation, purchasing the power for civilian distribution. Some 10,000 kilowatts were supplied from the reactor, which was a prototype for the one used in the nuclear submarine USS Seawolf. Last year, nearly 800 million kilowatt-hours were generated at nuclear plants — around 20 percent of the nation’s total electricity output. There are 149 nuclear power generating establishments in the U.S., employing over 48,000 workers in America’s $530 billion a year utilities sector. You can find more facts about America from the U.S. Census Bureau online at <www.census.gov>.