Feb23, 2910
Americans have never been completely comfortable with nuclear power.
Even before Three Mile Island and Chernobyl, people were uneasy about a technology that produced radioactive isotopes — subatomic particles that can’t be seen or felt but can cause cancer.
Nevertheless, the nuclear power plants were built and began producing electricity. Nuclear power became a part of the nation’s energy mix, and people became comfortable with it. Nuclear power was still controversial, and voters forced shutdowns in some states; but there’s never been a massive call for phase-out as there’s been in Germany.
Instead, some called for a “nuclear renaissance,” but no private investor will touch it because the nuclear industry has a bad record of delays and cost over-runs.
Nevertheless, Wednesday President Barack Obama granted $8.3 billion in taxpayer loan guarantees to the Southern Co. for new reactors at Plant Vogtle.
According to the Government Accountability Office, the potential for default on these loans is about 50 percent. This is unacceptable. The nuclear industry is no longer a young struggling technology. It’s more than 50 years old, well entrenched and very powerful, but it still isn’t self-sustaining and it still hasn’t solved its most basic problems.
1. The industry still has no idea what to do with nuclear waste. The effort to establish a repository has cost billions and gone nowhere. Highly dangerous radioactive material is still stored above ground at nuclear plants across the country.
2. The industry is unable to sustain itself without massive infusions of federal money, and because of its ties to nuclear weapon technology, nuclear power does not, and can never, operate in a completely open and democratic fashion.
The government is forced to oversee and intervene at every step of the operation, but because we want our homes warm in the winter and cool in the summer, and because we want to keep our lights on and shops open for business, we accept this intrusion. Point out the danger to the economy and open government, and we shrug and change the subject.
We ignore physical warning signs: Tritium leaks were recently discovered at the Yankee plant in Vermont.
Groundwater contamination around the plant is 40 times higher than the federal safe drinking water limit, and similar leaks have been found at least 28 of the nation’s other 104 nuclear plants. The most recent leak was discovered earlier this month at Plant Oconee just north of the Georgia-South Carolina border.
Tritium is radioactive. In sufficient concentration it’s carcinogenic. Nuclear power is not safe, not practical and not clean. It isn’t even economically viable. But here’s the good news: It’s not necessary!
Even if the nuclear industry gets its subsidies, new plants can’t be up and running for eight to 10 years. Meanwhile, renewable technology is coming online every day.
According to the U.S. Department of Energy, renewable energy usage is rising steadily. For the month of October 2009, renewables’ contribution to the nation’s energy mix exceeded that of nuclear power.
Renewables are ready now. Solar and wind generators can be put to work in a matter of weeks. According to the American Wind Energy Association, 9,922 megawatts of wind power came online in 2009. With figures like this, pretty soon we don’t need any nuclear reactors at all.
Renewables are transforming the way our country gets and transmits its energy. And like any new and growing businesses, they generate jobs!
Loan guarantees to the Southern Co. does nothing but put taxpayer dollars into an old and outdated technology.
Originally published in The Atlanta Journal Constitution.
http://www.ajc.com/opinion/pro-con-should-taxpayers-322263.html
Americans have never been completely comfortable with nuclear power.
Even before Three Mile Island and Chernobyl, people were uneasy about a technology that produced radioactive isotopes — subatomic particles that can’t be seen or felt but can cause cancer.
Nevertheless, the nuclear power plants were built and began producing electricity. Nuclear power became a part of the nation’s energy mix, and people became comfortable with it. Nuclear power was still controversial, and voters forced shutdowns in some states; but there’s never been a massive call for phase-out as there’s been in Germany.
Instead, some called for a “nuclear renaissance,” but no private investor will touch it because the nuclear industry has a bad record of delays and cost over-runs.
Nevertheless, Wednesday President Barack Obama granted $8.3 billion in taxpayer loan guarantees to the Southern Co. for new reactors at Plant Vogtle.
According to the Government Accountability Office, the potential for default on these loans is about 50 percent. This is unacceptable. The nuclear industry is no longer a young struggling technology. It’s more than 50 years old, well entrenched and very powerful, but it still isn’t self-sustaining and it still hasn’t solved its most basic problems.
1. The industry still has no idea what to do with nuclear waste. The effort to establish a repository has cost billions and gone nowhere. Highly dangerous radioactive material is still stored above ground at nuclear plants across the country.
2. The industry is unable to sustain itself without massive infusions of federal money, and because of its ties to nuclear weapon technology, nuclear power does not, and can never, operate in a completely open and democratic fashion.
The government is forced to oversee and intervene at every step of the operation, but because we want our homes warm in the winter and cool in the summer, and because we want to keep our lights on and shops open for business, we accept this intrusion. Point out the danger to the economy and open government, and we shrug and change the subject.
We ignore physical warning signs: Tritium leaks were recently discovered at the Yankee plant in Vermont.
Groundwater contamination around the plant is 40 times higher than the federal safe drinking water limit, and similar leaks have been found at least 28 of the nation’s other 104 nuclear plants. The most recent leak was discovered earlier this month at Plant Oconee just north of the Georgia-South Carolina border.
Tritium is radioactive. In sufficient concentration it’s carcinogenic. Nuclear power is not safe, not practical and not clean. It isn’t even economically viable. But here’s the good news: It’s not necessary!
Even if the nuclear industry gets its subsidies, new plants can’t be up and running for eight to 10 years. Meanwhile, renewable technology is coming online every day.
According to the U.S. Department of Energy, renewable energy usage is rising steadily. For the month of October 2009, renewables’ contribution to the nation’s energy mix exceeded that of nuclear power.
Renewables are ready now. Solar and wind generators can be put to work in a matter of weeks. According to the American Wind Energy Association, 9,922 megawatts of wind power came online in 2009. With figures like this, pretty soon we don’t need any nuclear reactors at all.
Renewables are transforming the way our country gets and transmits its energy. And like any new and growing businesses, they generate jobs!
Loan guarantees to the Southern Co. does nothing but put taxpayer dollars into an old and outdated technologyAmericans have never been completely comfortable with nuclear power.
Even before Three Mile Island and Chernobyl, people were uneasy about a technology that produced radioactive isotopes — subatomic particles that can’t be seen or felt but can cause cancer.
Nevertheless, the nuclear power plants were built and began producing electricity. Nuclear power became a part of the nation’s energy mix, and people became comfortable with it. Nuclear power was still controversial, and voters forced shutdowns in some states; but there’s never been a massive call for phase-out as there’s been in Germany.
Instead, some called for a “nuclear renaissance,” but no private investor will touch it because the nuclear industry has a bad record of delays and cost over-runs.
Nevertheless, Wednesday President Barack Obama granted $8.3 billion in taxpayer loan guarantees to the Southern Co. for new reactors at Plant Vogtle.
According to the Government Accountability Office, the potential for default on these loans is about 50 percent. This is unacceptable. The nuclear industry is no longer a young struggling technology. It’s more than 50 years old, well entrenched and very powerful, but it still isn’t self-sustaining and it still hasn’t solved its most basic problems.
1. The industry still has no idea what to do with nuclear waste. The effort to establish a repository has cost billions and gone nowhere. Highly dangerous radioactive material is still stored above ground at nuclear plants across the country.
2. The industry is unable to sustain itself without massive infusions of federal money, and because of its ties to nuclear weapon technology, nuclear power does not, and can never, operate in a completely open and democratic fashion.
The government is forced to oversee and intervene at every step of the operation, but because we want our homes warm in the winter and cool in the summer, and because we want to keep our lights on and shops open for business, we accept this intrusion. Point out the danger to the economy and open government, and we shrug and change the subject.
We ignore physical warning signs: Tritium leaks were recently discovered at the Yankee plant in Vermont.
Groundwater contamination around the plant is 40 times higher than the federal safe drinking water limit, and similar leaks have been found at least 28 of the nation’s other 104 nuclear plants. The most recent leak was discovered earlier this month at Plant Oconee just north of the Georgia-South Carolina border.
Tritium is radioactive. In sufficient concentration it’s carcinogenic. Nuclear power is not safe, not practical and not clean. It isn’t even economically viable. But here’s the good news: It’s not necessary!
Even if the nuclear industry gets its subsidies, new plants can’t be up and running for eight to 10 years. Meanwhile, renewable technology is coming online every day.
According to the U.S. Department of Energy, renewable energy usage is rising steadily. For the month of October 2009, renewables’ contribution to the nation’s energy mix exceeded that of nuclear power.
Renewables are ready now. Solar and wind generators can be put to work in a matter of weeks. According to the American Wind Energy Association, 9,922 megawatts of wind power came online in 2009. With figures like this, pretty soon we don’t need any nuclear reactors at all.
Renewables are transforming the way our country gets and transmits its energy. And like any new and growing businesses, they generate jobs!
Loan guarantees to the Southern Co. does nothing but put taxpayer dollars into an old and outdated technology.
Tags: columnist, Columns, Environment, Global Warming, Joan King, Nuclear Energy, Nuclear Weapons, The economy
