Reactor Reax Top Stories

This is a roundup of the top stories from the US this week on nuclear activities.

Yucca Mountain waste tombs. Courtesy: treehugger.com

(WASHINGTON D.C.) - Why New Nuclear Loan Guarantees are Now More Imprudent Than Ever, (op-ed by Mark Cooper, senior research fellow for economic analysis, Institute for Energy and the Environment, Vermont Law School), Salem (OR) News, February 12, 2011. "The U.S. is expected to see very soon (1) the awarding of as many as two more loan guarantees for nuclear reactor projects, (2) possible additional nuclear loan guarantee authority in the House FY2011 Continuing Resolution and (3) a proposed increase of nuclear loan guarantees in the White House FY 2012 budget. However, prevailing market trends could not be worse for lawmakers and taxpayers who are concerned about the risk of defaults on any new loan guarantees."

No nuclear option, (editorial), Albany Times-Union, February 17, 2011. "The United States has been using nuclear power for more than half a century, and it still hasn't decided what to do with waste that will be lethal for thousands of years, even a million or more in some cases. "

Ending Yucca Mountain, (editorial), Las Vegas Sun, February 15, 2011. "The plan to put the nation's nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain is not workable. Carting 77,000 tons of deadly radioactive waste across the country to store in a porous volcanic ridge simply doesn't make sense, either logically or scientifically. But the push to make Nevada a nuclear waste dump is grounded in politics. Other states want the radioactive material out of their backyards, and although there were much better sites across the country, Congress chose Nevada in 1987 because the state didn't have the political clout in Washington to stop it."

CT opposes 60-year storage rule, Hartford Business, February 15, 2011. "Connecticut doesn't want nuclear waste stored in temporary containers at closed reactor sites in Haddam and Waterford for 60 years as a new federal ruling now allows, the state attorney general says. George Jepsen said Tuesday he is joining New York and Vermont in asking the U.S. District Circuit Court of Appeals to review the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's decision in December to allow on-site fuel storage to go from 30 years to 60."

States Sue to Stop Storage of Nuclear Waste, Time Magazine, February 16, 2011. "Even if you love nuclear power (gee whiz, it's carbon free!), you have to admit there's a problem with using the energy that binds atoms as a source to power cities: nuclear waste. Fission produces isotopes that remain radioactive for thousands of years. And no one wants the waste anywhere near them."

Obama's $36 Billion Nuke-Powered Giveaway, (op-ed by Harvey Wasserman, author of "Solartopia! Our Green Powered Earth), The Huffington Post, February 15, 2011. "The Congressional Budget Office has warned that the failure rate for reactor loan guarantees could well exceed 50%. The economic history of atomic power has been catastrophic, with the previous generation of reactors coming in on average around 200% over original cost projections. Reactors now under construction in Finland and France have soared to billions of dollars over budget and are years behind schedule."

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