A Parsons community group holds a town hall event to ask questions and voice concerns about the proposed underground nuclear reactor planned near the city.
The group calling itself Prairie Dog Alliance held the event on Saturday at the Wall Event Center in Parsons. About 50 area residents attended the event to voice their concern. Group founder and event organizer Marjorie Reynolds explained the project to those in attendance and shared information she had learned from researching Deep Fission. Reynolds says many members of the community share her concerns about the project.
In December, the California-based Deep Fission company announced plans to place a small modular pressurized water reactor in a boreholes one mile underground at the Great Plains Industrial Park located east of Parsons. The project is part of the Reactor Pilot Program from the U.S. Department of Energy. The project was approved by the Labette County Commission and is also supported by the Parsons City Commission.
Most of the group that gathered on Saturday opposed the project, and some suggested that protests against the project might be in order. Reynolds says the group plans to hold more events in the future in hopes of informing citizens about the reactor project.
Deep Fission plans to complete construction of the borehole site and achieve criticality by July 4th. Prairie Dog Alliance plans to hold another open meeting on February 24th. In the meantime, Reynolds says she plans to be at the Parsons Public Library each Tuesday for the rest of the month to hand out informative flyers to anyone interested.
