Nukes too dangerious, too expensive
A letter to the editor by Dave Steffenson, an active participant in the Madison Peak Oil Group, and other organizations combatting global climate chante:
Once again Prof. Max Carbon and the UW-Madison nuclear engineering faculty have taken their old fleece of obfuscation and woven it into a wool cap that they’ve pulled down over the eyes of columnist Bill Wineke (Warming Up to Nuclear Power, Sat., May 26).
While minimizing safety questions, they never mention nuclear electrical generation’s biggest dirty secret – it’s too costly! Present and future nuclear power plants in America, let alone France or Korea, are possible only with huge public subsidies.
What’s more, when you add plant-decommissioning costs when they are spent (many are reaching that point), that cost will also be laid on us taxpayers.
Furthermore, in case of any accidents or mistakes, they’ve already manipulated the law to lay most of the costs of that liability to pay for cleanup on us taxpayers.
No wonder, nuclear power can’t compete. If we had put as much public subsidy into solving mercury problems, making our electrical system and grid twice as efficient, and invested in carbon-free alternative energy and conservation, we wouldn’t even be considering nuclear power.
Wisconsin must keep its two reasonable legal requirements for safe storage and economic feasibility before any nuclear utilities can be built.
Dave Steffenson, Ph.D.
Ecological Ethics Specialist
Madison, WI
