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THE NEW NUCLEAR POWER PUSH INTENSIFIES PT 2

In the first program in this three-part series of how the push for nuclear power intensifies, the focus was on the drive of the Republican Trump administration.

Part 2 examines the predecessor Democratic U.S. administration. “During the Biden administration there was a deep gulping of the radioactive Kool-Aid of the nuclear power industry,” says Kevin Kamps, executive director of Don’t Waste Michigan. He cites the ADVANCE Act of 2024 which “set the stage” for the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission “being forced to rewrite its mandate” of “protecting people and the environment” and, instead, to “promoting” the nuclear industry. The ADVANCE Act was supported by all Republican members of Congress and nearly all its Democrats, too, and signed into law by Biden. This support of nuclear power by Democratic politicians continues, notes Kamps, with Governors Kathy Hochul in New York, Gavin Newsom in California, Gretchen Whitmer in Michigan, Josh Shapiro in Pennsylvania.

The nuclear power industry is spending many billions to promote itself and its “propaganda arm is very powerful,” he says. Further, says attorney Terry Lodge, who has been involved in numerous court challenges to nuclear power, “this is a very complicated technology to explain in soundbites.”

Still, says Arnie Gundersen, a nuclear engineer and former nuclear industry vice president who left the industry and is a leading opponent of nuclear power, purported new “advanced” nuclear power plant designs “are not new…at all.” As to what people can do, Kamps urges they “join an environment group, join the movement against nuclear power” and for safe, clean energy.

May 16, 2026 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Uncategorized