[Peace-discuss] No nukes

[C. G. Estabrook]

	Published on Saturday, February 13, 2010 by CommonDreams.org
	No Nukes
	by Ralph Nader

A generation of Americans has grown up without a single nuclear power plant 
being brought on line since before the near meltdown of the Three Mile Island 
structure in 1979. They have not been exposed to the enormous costs, risks and 
national security dangers associated with their operations and the large amount 
of radioactive wastes still without a safe, permanent storage place for tens of 
thousands of years.

All Americans better get informed soon, for a resurgent atomic power lobby wants 
the taxpayers to pick up the tab for relaunching this industry. Unless you get 
Congress to stop this insanely dirty and complex way to boil water to generate 
steam for electricity, you'll be paying for the industry's research, the 
industry's loan guarantees and the estimated trillion dollars 
(inflation-adjusted) cost of just one meltdown, according to the Nuclear 
Regulatory Commission, plus vast immediate and long-range casualties.

The Russian roulette-playing nuclear industry claims a class nine meltdown will 
never happen. That none of the thousands of rail cars, trucks and barges with 
radioactive wastes will ever have a catastrophic accident. That terrorists will 
forgo striking a nuclear plant or hijacking deadly materials, and go for far 
less consequential disasters.

The worst nuclear reactor accident occurred in 1986 at Chernobyl in what is now 
Ukraine. Although of a different design than most U.S. reactors, the resultant 
breach of containment released a radioactive cloud that spread around the globe 
but concentrated most intensively in Belarus, Ukraine and European Russia and 
secondarily over 40% of Europe.

For different reasons, both governmental and commercial interests were intent on 
downplaying both the immediate radioactively-caused deaths and diseases and the 
longer term devastations from this silent, invisible form of violence. They also 
were not eager to fund follow up monitoring and research.

Now comes the English translation of the most comprehensive, scientific report 
to date titled Chernobyl: Consequences of the Catastrophe for People and the 
Environment whose senior author is biologist Alexey V. Yablokov, a member of the 
prestigious Russian Academy of Sciences.

Purchasable from the New York Academy of Sciences (visit nyas.org/annals), this 
densely referenced analysis covers the acute radiation inflicted on both the 
first-responders (called "liquidators") and on residents nearby, who suffer 
chronic radioactive sicknesses. "Today," asserts the report, "more than 6 
million people live on land with dangerous levels of contamination--land that 
will continue to be contaminated for decades to centuries."

Back to the U.S., where, deplorably, President Obama has called for more 
so-called "safe, clean nuclear power plants." He just sent a budget request for 
another $54 billion in taxpayer loan guarantees on top of a previous $18 billion 
passed under Bush. You see, Wall Street financiers will not loan electric 
companies money to build new nuclear plants which cost $12 billion and up, 
unless Uncle Sam guarantees one hundred percent of the loan.

Strange, if these nuclear power plants are so efficient, so safe, why can't they 
be built with unguaranteed private risk capital? The answer to this question 
came from testimony by Amory B. Lovins, chief scientist of the Rocky Mountain 
Institute, in March 2008 before the [House of Representatives of the U.S.] 
Select Committee on Energy Independence (rmi.org). His thesis: "expanding 
nuclear power would reduce and retard climate protection and energy 
security...but can't survive free-market capitalism."

Making his case with brilliant concision, Lovins, a consultant to business and 
the Defense Department, demonstrated with numbers and other data that nuclear 
power "is being dramatically outcompeted in the global marketplace by no and 
low-carbon power resources that deliver far more climate solution per dollar, 
far faster."

Lovins doesn't even include the accident or sabotage risks. He testified that 
"because it's [nuclear power] uneconomic and unnecessary, we needn't inquire 
into its other attributes." Renewable energy (eg. wind power), cogeneration and 
energy efficiencies (megawatts) are now far superior to maintain.

I challenge anybody in the nuclear industry or academia to debate Lovins at the 
National Press Club in Washington, D.C., with a neutral moderator, or before a 
Congressional Committee.

However, the swarm of nuclear power lobbyists is gaining headway in Congress, 
spreading their money everywhere and falsely exploiting the concern with global 
warming fed by fossil fuels.

The powerful nuclear power critics in Congress want the House energy bill to 
focus on climate change. To diminish the opposition, they entered into a bargain 
that gave nuclear reactors status with loan guarantees and other subsidies in 
the same legislation which has passed the House and, as is usual, languishing in 
the Senate.

Long-time, staunch opponents of atomic power who are leaders in countering 
climate change, such as Cong. Ed Markey (D-MA), have quieted themselves for the 
time being, while the Republicans (loving the taxpayer subsidies) and some 
Democrats are hollering for the nukes. All this undermines the valiant efforts 
of the Union of Concerned Scientists, NIRS, Friends of the Earth, and other 
established citizen groups who favor a far safer, more efficient, faster and 
more secure energy future for our country and the world.

Just recently, a well-designed and documented pamphlet from Beyond Nuclear 
summarize the case against nuclear power as "Expensive, Dangerous and Dirty." 
The clear, precise detail and documentation makes for expeditious education of 
your friends, neighbors and co-workers.

You can download it free and reprint it for wider distribution from 
www.BeyondNuclear.org. It is very well worth the 10 to 15 minutes it takes to 
absorb the truth about this troubled technology--replete with delays and large 
cost-overruns--that has been on government welfare since the 1950s.
Ralph Nader is a consumer advocate, lawyer, and author. His most recent book - 
and first novel -  is, Only The Super Wealthy Can Save Us. His most recent work 
of non-fiction is The Seventeen Traditions.

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/02/13


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