nuclear-news

President Obama has let the nuclear industry be caught in its own trap

Though the President’s critics on the left do not recognize a strategic move in the loan guarantees to new nuclear, there is very likely method in what seems madness. The nuclear industry proved in the 1970s and 1980s, to those who were paying attention, that it is not viable.

New Nuclear to be Hoist on its own Petard, RENEWABLE ENERGY WORLD, February 23, 2010“…the phrase hoist with one’s own petard…means ‘to be harmed by one’s own plan to harm someone else’ or ‘to fall into one’s own trap’…” (Wikipedia)Announcements from the Obama administration of new financial support for the nuclear industry were met by declarations that the long-anticipated nuclear renaissance is finally at hand but the reality is quite different.

There is a very real possibility that the President has just caught the nuclear industry in a trap of its own making.

In February 8’s ANOTHER NAIL IN NUCLEAR’S COFFIN, NewEnergyNews laid out the case (made in a recent paper, many papers before it, and many authorities over the last decade not the least of which is energy guru Amory Lovins) that there is a list of reasons why nuclear energy is simply not a wise choice for a smart society:

(1) new reactors are a decade in the planning, approvals, construction and testing process;

(2) new and upgraded facilities will at best offset the decommissioning of the many aging ones,

(3) the cost and financing of new reactors is “profoundly unfavourable and…getting worse,”

(4) federal subsidies and emissions policies are not strong enough and are unlikely to become so with New Energy, Energy Efficiency and even natural gas as much safer and more economic choices,

(5) after 60 years, the nuclear energy industry has still not resolved the radioactive waste problem (because burying waste in a hole in the ground is a solution for animals, not humans), and

(6) nuclear energy brings with it very real and legitimate fears about safety, security and nuclear weapons proliferation.

Though the President’s critics on the left do not recognize a strategic move in the loan guarantees to new nuclear, there is very likely method in what seems madness. The nuclear industry proved in the 1970s and 1980s, to those who were paying attention, that it is not viable. 50% of the projects that started in that “golden era” for the nuclear  industry ran into economic difficulties and were not completed.

New Nuclear to be Hoist on its own Petard

February 24, 2010 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | politics, USA | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear wastes, reactor