proponents of reactors have spent some $645 million in the last decade lobbying Congress for more subsidies. ….A critical moment is coming soon, when Obama goes to Congress to request an additional $36 billion in loan guarantees for new nukes in his 2012 budget.With them, America’s atomic industry has a chance to build a few more reactors. Without them, a green-powered Earth is within our grasp
Will the Nuclear Power Industry Melt Down?, Washington Spectator, by Harvey Wasserman, 29 April 11, ”….Japan’s horrifying catastrophe has sent the industry’s spin machine into overdrive. Hell-bent on minimizing the dangers of this unprecedented disaster, we’ve been shown the script of what reactor-backers are willing to say and do to save themselves.
It is not a pretty picture. It focuses on the assertion that there are safe doses of radiation, and that atomic energy has harmed few, if any. Three Mile Island “hurt no one.” There were few casualties at Chernobyl. And Fukushima’s long-term damage will be minimal.
Atomic apologists argue that only nuclear power can fill our long-term “base load,” that renewables are of no real consequence, and our choice is between more nukes and more coal.
Yet the nuclear industry faces significant hurdles in cost and construction lead time, two inescapable factors that are on the brink of killing atomic electricity-generation.
The end is not guaranteed. New reactor construction cannot proceed in the United States without huge federal handouts. There are no private sources willing to fund additional U.S. projects. Wall Street has only been keen on atomic energy when subsidies and ironclad guarantees have been available…..
Desperate spinning by nuclear lobby to resuscitate the industry « nuclear-news
Will the Nuclear Power Industry Melt Down?, Washington Spectator, by Harvey Wasserman, 29 April 11, ”….Japan’s horrifying catastrophe has sent the industry’s spin machine into overdrive. Hell-bent on minimizing the dangers of this unprecedented disaster, we’ve been shown the script of what reactor-backers are willing to say and do to save themselves.
It is not a pretty picture. It focuses on the assertion that there are safe doses of radiation, and that atomic energy has harmed few, if any. Three Mile Island “hurt no one.” There were few casualties at Chernobyl. And Fukushima’s long-term damage will be minimal.
Atomic apologists argue that only nuclear power can fill our long-term “base load,” that renewables are of no real consequence, and our choice is between more nukes and more coal.
Yet the nuclear industry faces significant hurdles in cost and construction lead time, two inescapable factors that are on the brink of killing atomic electricity-generation.
The end is not guaranteed. New reactor construction cannot proceed in the United States without huge federal handouts. There are no private sources willing to fund additional U.S. projects. Wall Street has only been keen on atomic energy when subsidies and ironclad guarantees have been available…..
Desperate spinning by nuclear lobby to resuscitate the industry « nuclear-news
