The Nuclear Retreat
We coined the term, "Nuclear Retreat" here at Beyond Nuclear to counter the nuclear industry's preposterous "nuclear renaissance" propaganda campaign. You've probably seen "Nuclear Retreat" picked up elsewhere and no wonder - the alleged nuclear revival so far looks more like a lot of running away. On this page we will keep tabs on every latest nuclear retreat as more and more proposed new nuclear programs are canceled.
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The Charleston NBC affiliate reports that the State of West Virginia Senate Judiciary Committee has killed for this year an attempt to overturn a 1996 state ban on the construction of atomic reactors in the state until the high-level radioactive waste problem has been solved.
An excellent entry on New Energy News this week, pointing out the sham of the nuclear renaissance:
"In contrast, the nuclear energy industry keeps predicting a grand "renaissance" in which it recaptures its 1960s and 1970s glory. Yet its actual new installed capacity is virtually nonexistent and its existing facilities are wearing out and leaking. What new capacity is being built, largely in the developing world, is offset by the decommissioning of decaying plants. Except the piling up of radioactive waste, for which there is still no safe solution, anything increasing in the nuclear energy industry besides hype is getting progressively hard to find."
Former NRC Commissioner Peter Bradford has recently called the nuclear "renaissance" at taxpayer expense "a first class train wreck." His recent op-ed to the Madison, Wisconsin Capital Times explains some of the reasons why.
The Wall Street Journal reports that NRG Energy, based in New Jersey, may pull the plug on its involvement in the South Texas Project nuclear power plant's proposal to build two additional reactors of the General Electric-Hitachi "Advanced Boiling Water Reactor" (ABWR) design at the site which already hosts two operating reactors (pictured at the left). What makes this news all the more remarkable is the fact that the U.S. Department of Energy had previously selected the South Texas Project proposal as one of the top four applications in the entire country for new reactor loan guarantees. As reported by Greg Harman in a three part series entitled "Nukes of Hazard," as well as additional coverage in the San Antonio Current and the San Antonio Express News, the South Texas Project new reactor proposal has been coming apart at the seams for several months now. DOE seems all too ready to risk many billions in taxpayer funding on new reactors resting on financial -- not to mention safety -- foundations built on sand.
February 26, 2010