Nuclear vs. net metering

From the Heartland, Margot McMillen writes: Yesterday we went to a meeting about license renewal for a nuclear power plant originally projected to last forty years. Now Ameren UE says we may need the 1980s-style plant for at least 60 years, maybe 80. But are they right? In the last four years we've seen the most amazing leaps forward in all kinds of power generation and use. Every farmer in the land, planning new irrigation, uses or at least considers solar and/or wind to run their pumps. Cars and trucks are getting 10% to 50% better gas mileage. On my farm, two buildings are off-grid, electricity-wise, on photovoltaic cells that charge batteries, and serving us just fine. Our irrigation is on photovoltaics but doesn't charge a battery, because we only need to pump when the sun is out. LED lights, wave power, gravity power, backpacks that charge laptops, clothes that charge phones, all unimaginable just four years ago. Appropriate technology for the unique problems of modern life, with answers that avoid the one-size-fits-all plan of centralized power stations and grids that stretch thousands of miles. How can government help? Well, we could use some better policies on net metering. Net metering would mean that if an electricity customer had a system to provide power to their place, and made extra power, it could be sold to the grid. Who would be beneficiaries? Churches that use their buildings once or twice a week could install panels and sell the power all week, just using it from their batteries on Sundays. Schools that are closed or on partial schedules in the summer could sell the power to run their neighbors' air conditioners. I know. I know. Nuke owners are gonna roll out studies that say that only a few folks will invest in alternatives and other studies saying they can only produce some tiny amount of electricity that way. They're gonna say we need a new generation of nukes, hundreds of them spewing out waste in neighborhoods across the land, but, hey, did they project battery-charging clothes or backpacks?