How many times must Utahns ask, “What were they thinking?” I hope the green light for building a nuclear power plant on the Green River will turn orange for caution and then red to stop this water-consuming travesty.

Utahns will not benefit from nuclear power, nor will any of the local ranchers or farmers. Neither will the people upstream, nor the 25 million people who drink the Green River water as it flows into the Colorado River and on downstream to California.

New nuclear reactors — like the Blue Castle plant proposed near eastern Utah’s Green River — face an uphill battle next year because of rising costs and concerns about safety, a trio of nuclear experts warned Wednesday.

“There simply are too many other choices which provide greater certainty at lesser cost and without the enormous long-term unresolved problems and risks facing nuclear power,” said Carol Werner, executive director of the bipartisan Environmental and Energy Study Institute.