Obama Nuclear Investment Surge to Fight Environment
President Obama has just announced $8.3 billion in loan guarantees to build the first U.S. nuclear power plant in 30 years, a move designed to win the war against the environment.
If you are not one of the millions of readers who have read the post linked to below, now is the time to read it:
America’s use of illegitimate nuclear energy, instead of reducing its energy waste, is in line with her unsustainable borrowing habits: Spend now; worry about the debt later. The problem being that the consequences of playing with nuclear waste are much deadlier than unmanageable debts.
The Worst President, the Worst Decisions! Click image to enlarge! [With special thanks to GA for the cartoon.]
The government loan guarantee will help Atlanta-based Southern Co build two nuclear reactors in the state of Georgia at a cost of about $9 billion, which are expected to go on line in 2016 and 2017.
However the above cost does NOT include the cost of decommission the reactors, dealing with piles of nuclear waste, or environmental emergencies arising from potential incidents.
“Unfortunately, the president is setting up the American taxpayer for the next corporate bailout,” said Jim Riccio, a nuclear policy analyst, adding that the Congressional Budget Office had already forecast the probability of loans default at greater than 50 percent, Reuters reported.
Mr Obama said nuclear energy was “safe and clean” and that the plants were needed to meet the country’s future energy needs.
Ironically, the core reason for not building any new nuclear reactors in the US since the 1979 was the partial core meltdown of one of the reactors at Three Mile Island atomic power plant in Pennsylvania, which caused radioactive gases to escape to the atmosphere.
Obama sees the threat of nuclear energy as a ‘DEBATE’
Perhaps the President should go to Chernobyl on a fact-finding mission because he doesn’t seem to have any knowledge of the scope and magnitude of the nuclear power’s past disasters.
“On an issue which affects our economy, our security, and the future of our planet, we cannot continue to be mired in the same old debates between left and right, between environmentalists and entrepreneurs,” said the President.
“To meet our growing energy needs and prevent the worst consequences of climate change, we’ll need to increase our supply of nuclear power. It’s that simple.” [Famous last words, Mr President?]
Primary Energy Consumption by Source and Sector, 2008
What’s Worse? Nuclear Accidents or Nuclear Waste?
Nuclear Power is NOT Clean or Green! Currently 104 nuclear reactors operate in the US, sprawled across 31 states, generating an estimated 769 billion kWh of electricity at a capacity factor of 89 percent (2001 estimate). Up to 60 new nuclear reactors are being built worldwide.
The reactors in the United States produce more than 2,000 metric tons of high-level radioactive waste and at least 34 million liters (12 million cubic feet) of low level radioactive waste annually. Threr are NO solutions for the nuclear waste. Building more nuclear plants means piling up more of the “permanent” radioactive waste.
“Over 54,000 metric tons of irradiated fuel [Waste from Reactors] has already accumulated at the sites of commercial nuclear reactors in the United States. There are several proposals to manage such highly radioactive waste, but none of them would satisfactorily deal with the material.” Public Citizen said.
According to the US Department of Energy (DOE), there are “millions of gallons of radioactive waste”, “thousands of tons of spent nuclear fuel and material” and “huge quantities of contaminated soil and water” in the United States.
The United States has at least 120 sites, some tes of thousands of hectares (acres) large, that are designated as “radioactive contaminated and unusable.”
One such site in the rural town of Fernald, in Hamilton County, Ohio, where “31 million pounds of uranium product,” some “2.5 billion pounds of [nuclear] waste” and “2.75 million cubic yards of [radioactive ] contaminated soil and debris” pose a deadly threat to the environment.
[In 1984 the plant was found to be releasing thousands of tons of uranium dust into the atmosphere causing a massive radioactive contamination of the surrounding areas.]
A “223 acre portion of the underlying Great Miami Aquifer had uranium levels above drinking standards.”
Oak Ridge National Laboratory, is home to at least “167 known contaminant release sites” in one of the three subdivisions of its 150 km2 (37,000-acre) site alone.
Job Creation Ploy: Don’t billions come with 9 zeros anymore?
Obama says the Georgia project would generate 3,500 construction jobs and 800 permanent ones as soon as the reactors are operational. Don’t billions come with 9 zeros anymore?
What, $9,000,000,000 to create 800 permanent jobs? Isn’t that a whopping $11.25million per job?
At these rates, it would cost about $166.5 trillion (12 zeros to a trillion) to put the 14.8 million or so unemployed people in the U.S. back to work!
America’s energy requirements could be reduced PAINLESSLY and MANY NEW JOBS could be created, if the government cared!
Related Links:
Fire Earth 
