nuclear-news

Confidence building in USA’s anti nuclear movement

“If Germany can do it, the US can do it. We have much better renewable energy resources than Germany,”

US anti-nuclear campaign buoyed by German opt-out  Expatica.com 2 June 11, US anti-nuclear campaigners are hoping German Chancellor Angela Merkel will try to persuade President Barack Obama to follow in Berlin’s footsteps and drop plans for new atomic power stations.

The German proposals, hammered out by Merkel’s ruling coalition, will see the country shutter all 17 of its nuclear reactors, eight of which are currently off the electricity grid, by 2022.

Merkel, who will hold White House talks here next week, said Monday that Germany could prove to “be a trailblazer for a new age of renewable energy sources.”

Campaigners on this side of the Atlantic agree.

“Germany is setting an example for the world, including the US,” said Kevin Kamps from the anti-nuclear activist group Beyond Nuclear.

“We hope that President Obama is open for a lesson from the world’s fourth-largest economy.”….

The US nuclear industry has largely stalled since the March 28, 1979 accident at Three Mile Island, with no new plants built to completion.

But the United States still wants to expand its nuclear industry, which provides about 20 percent of the nation’s power through 104 plants.

An attempt to launch a nuclear renaissance here has faltered, however, due to the heavy costs associated with reactor construction, which the Obama administration hopes can be overcome through government-backed loan guarantees.

But anti-nuclear campaigners say equal attention should be devoted to exploiting other energy sources.

“If Germany can do it, the US can do it. We have much better renewable energy resources than Germany,” said Kamps. We’re hoping that Merkel will talk to Obama about why Germany has decided to close down reactors earlier than proposed,” said Michele Boyd of Physicians for Social Responsibility.

“It is very important to show that you can have an industrial country that does not use nuclear energy.”

……..The German ambassador to the United States, Klaus Scharioth, said Tuesday that Berlin aimed to invest $1 billion a year in developing renewable energies, which should provide 50 percent of the country’s total energy in 2030.

“Investing in renewable energies is a win-win operation — more security, more independence, more jobs created,” he said…….http://www.expatica.com/de/news/german-news/us-anti-nuclear-campaign-buoyed-by-german-opt-out_153669.html?ppager=1

June 3, 2011 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | general