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U.S. Senators trying to greenwash nuclear power

The nuclear power industry has skillfully and successfully painted itself green — an environmentally benign answer to reducing carbon emissions. The industry and many in Washington want us to believe that a new generation of nuclear reactors will solve the problems of climate change and allow us to live happily ever after. That’s a costly fairy tale.

US climate proposal a nuclear bailout By Richard Clapp  Shanghai Daily, 2010-6-19 THE long-awaited climate proposal crafted by US Senators John Kerry and Joseph Lieberman has finally landed on Capitol Hill. The proposal, though, is a massive nuclear bailout under the guise of an energy overhaul.

Near the top of the almost 1,000-page document is this statement: “It is the policy of the United States to facilitate the continued development and growth of a safe and clean nuclear energy industry.”
To achieve that, the proposal offers US$54 billion in loan guarantees, plus enormous tax breaks and other financial giveaways, and cuts short licensing and safety reviews of new reactors.

The nuclear power industry has skillfully and successfully painted itself green — an environmentally benign answer to reducing carbon emissions. The industry and many in Washington want us to believe that a new generation of nuclear reactors will solve the problems of climate change and allow us to live happily ever after. That’s a costly fairy tale.

Beneath the lofty promises of delivering a clean and safe energy supply by building a fleet of large new reactors are some very troubling truths — facts the nuclear industry and its advocates seem to have forgotten in their haste to marry climate change legislation to this modern-day nuclear bandwagon.
Consider the following:

Cost:….
Risk: Private investors want no part of underwriting the cost of nuclear power. So, US taxpayers are being asked to foot the bill through at least US$54 billion in loan guarantees. And, just in case construction schedules do go awry (as they always have in the past), taxpayers will provide risk insurance to the utilities for delays in licensing, up to US$500 million per reactor. The proposal expands this program so dramatically that taxpayers would even pay for idle worker time.
Time: The time to tackle global warming is now. New nuclear reactors won’t begin to produce a kilowatt of power for at least a decade, and probably longer. Non-polluting renewable alternatives — wind, geothermal, tidal power, solar — can join the energy mix quickly and move this nation off its high-carbon diet now.
Threats: …..
Health:…..

US climate proposal a nuclear bailout — Shanghai Daily | 上海日报 — English Window to China New

June 21, 2010 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | climate change, USA | antinuclear, climate change, global warming, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear wastes, radioactive, reactors, uranium