Why is a rust prone reactor design at risk of catastrophic radioactivity releases getting massive taxpayer loan guarantees?!

Image compliments of Arnold Gundersen, Fairewinds Associates, Inc.See the story in the New York Times Green blog. And see Arnie's power point on the subject at the Fairewinds Associates, Inc. website. This fatal design flaw on the most "popular" (among nuclear utilities anyway!)new reactor design in the U.S. -- with 14 on order, all targeted at the Southeast -- raises serious safety concerns about the nuclear power relapse, and the tens of billions of dollars of taxpayer-backed federal loan guarantees proposed to pay for it. Also see the April 21, 2010 press conference and related background documents that first raised the red flag on this issue. And see the Oct. 2009 NRC press release admitting another major design flaw with the AP1000, a structurally unsound shield building vulnerable to earthquakes, hurricanes, and tornadoes. If the AP1000 is "the best" new reactor design out there, awarded $8.3 billion in loan guarantees by President Obama last February and in line to potentially recieve a whole lot more, we'd hate to see the runners up!

Huge, rich overseas firms and foreign workers would benefit from US taxpayer backed nuclear loan guarantees

Nuclear Information and Resource Service has published a report documenting that every single new reactor proposal in the US would be designed by either Japanese (Toshiba, Hitachi, Mitsubishi) or French (Areva) reactor vendors. Large nuclear components, such as reactor pressure vessels, would also be supplied by foreign firms, primarily Japan Steel Works. And some of the nuclear utilities proposing new reactors in the US are themselves partially owned by foreign firms. This means that federal loan guarantees for new reactors and uranium enrichment facilities would benefit foreign companies and workers, at US taxpayer risk and expense. The Christian Science Monitor reported this story.

Analyses reveal tens to hundreds of billions in subsidies and giveaways for nuclear industry proposed in Senate bills

A recent analysis by the Union of Concerned Scientists shows that the subsidies, tax breaks, etc. in the Kerry-Lieberman "American Power Act" (APA) and the Bingaman "American Clean Energy Leadership Act" (ACELA) proposed in the U.S. Senate could amount to a nearly $150 billion taxpayer giveaway to the over 50 year old, already heavily subsidized nuclear power industry. Another recent analysis of the Kerry-Lieberman APA, commissioned by Friends of the Earth and conducted by Doug Koplow of Earth Track, shows that the proposed tax incentives for new reactors alone could benefit the nuclear power industry by over $57 billion at taxpayer expense. As these bills could still reach the Senate floor yet this month, it is urgent that concerned citizens contact both their U.S. Senators as soon as possible to urge that they block any further subsidies for the nuclear power industry. Call your U.S. Senators via the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121. Given the short time frame, write your Senators via their webforms, or fax them a hand-written letter. Better yet, write a letter to the editor or opinion-editorial to your local newspapers, decrying any further taxpayer largesse for the atomic industry. And best of all, work with a coalition of concerned taxpayers and environmental groups in your state to request an in-person meeting with your Senators' staff, or even the Senators themselves, as soon as possible. Contact Kevin Kamps at Beyond Nuclear (kevin@beyondnuclear.org or (301) 270-2209 ext. 1) for help with any of these ideas. Finally, you can also sign Beyond Nuclear's "ActNow!" petition, and pass word of it on to everyone you know, and urge them to do the same!

U.S. House approves $9 billion in additional new reactor loan guarantees

Thank you to everyone who, for the past several weeks, has acted on our alerts to contact your U.S. Representative to urge that they block the $9 billion in added new atomic reactor loan guarantees snuck onto the Fiscal Year 2010 Supplemental Appropriations bill, a war funding and disaster relief bill. Unfortunately, late at night on July 1st, as the House was rushing to leave for its Independence Day holiday recess, it passed the bill, containing these new atomic reactor loan guarantees. The Declaration of Independence itself holds that when government becomes inimical to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, it is the right, indeed the duty, of U.S. citizens to either alter or abolish that government. The insatiable greed of the nuclear power industry, repeatedly fed by the Congress and White House at taxpayer expense, requires all of us to stand up and make clear that enough is enough! Check to see if your Representative voted in favor of this bill, and if they did, ask them why they would vote in favor of transferring $9 billion of financial risk for new reactors onto the backs of U.S. taxpayers. Call your U.S. Representative via the Capitol Switchboard, (202) 224-3121.