ABSTRACT
Despite Diablo Canyon and Three-Mile Island, nuclear energy can be. Estimates suggest that the states of New Mexico and Wyoming alone hold over 80 percent of the United States’ uranium reserves; adding Arizona, Colorado and Utah raises this to about 90. Support for nuclear energy by the current administration should enhance activity, and indeed, the general attitude of the uranium mining industry is one of optimism over the long term. Geothermal energy, the natural heat of the earth, has been experiencing rapid development in areas such as The Geysers in northen California. There the steam-dominated hydrothermal resource has long been known, and electric power production soon may reach 1500 MWe. Since the land area of the western states is so very large and solar input generous, one can imagine much of the region converted to a giant harvesting operation for biomass energy products. The products could be burned directly for industrial heat or electricity.
