Reactor Reax: Nuclear Energy Reporting This Week

The latest stories from Physicians for Social Responsibility.

On the Radar: Vermont Yankee Nuclear Reactor, shown here with a cooling tower leak, is up for a 20-year operating license extension. Learn more, visit: par.org

(WASHINGTON D.C.) - The nuclear industry is seeking to capitalize on legitimate concerns about climate change in order to gain access to the federal, state and local subsidies necessary to prop up this mature but uneconomic energy industry.

Nuclear power is uneconomical. Nuclear power is polluting. Nuclear power is a public health threat.

This is an industry plagued by cost overruns, construction problems, loan defaults, bankruptcies, and accidents. As the nuclear industry tries to resuscitate itself and promote a new wave of construction, taxpayers and ratepayers alike should not bear the burdens of this completely unsafe investment.

NuclearBailout.org is a project of the Safe Energy Program at Physicians for Social Responsibility. We created this website and campaign in order to address the economic and safety realities of the development of new nuclear reactors.

Today's $7 Billion Nuke Attack, (op-ed by Harvey Wasserman, author and senior advisor to Greenpeace USA and the Nuclear Information & Resource Service), OpEd News, December 9, 2010. "The White House and nuclear power industry are on the brink of grabbing $7 billion in new taxpayer-funded loan guarantees for new reactors. But they can be stopped."

Reject All Energy Mandates: It's Just Another Subsidy, The Foundry/The Heritage Foundation, December 7, 2010. "The mandate may reward certain energy producers in the short term but will hurt both producers and consumers in the long run because it eliminates competition, drives prices higher, and encourages government dependence—hence the reason we continually see pushes for extensions of direct subsidies, capital subsidies, mandates, insurance subsidies, and specialized tax credits."

Nuclear 'Renaissance' Is Short on Largess, New York Times, December 7, 2010. "The federal aid now in place for new nuclear plants is far from sufficient for the so-called "nuclear renaissance" that backers are seeking, a panel made up of members of Congress, high-ranking federal officials and leaders of major nuclear companies agreed on Tuesday."

Selling Out Nevada? Some Republicans are Willing to Make It a Nuclear Waste Dump, Las Vegas Sun, December 7, 2010. "Nevada's elected leaders have, for years, been nearly unanimous in their opposition to the federal government's plans to build a nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain, 90 miles from Las Vegas, and fill it with deadly radioactive material. But, as Anjeanette Damon reported in Sunday's Las Vegas Sun, several Republican candidates either embraced the project or talked about using the site for some other nuclear project in the last election."

Comanche Peak Expansion Thrown Into Doubt, Ft. Worth Star Telegram, December 9, 2010. "The planned $15 billion expansion of the Comanche Peak nuclear power plant -- billed by the plant's owners as potentially the biggest economic development project ever in Texas -- suffered a critical funding setback in Congress this week."

Source: "Reactor Reax" is featured on www.NuclearBailout.org, a Web site maintained by Physicians for Social Responsibility. For more information, contact: reactorreax@nuclearbailout.org.