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Public Citizen
FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
APRIL 10, 2003
1:31 PM
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CONTACT:
Public
Citizen
(202) 588-7742
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Public Citizen Urges Lawmakers to Reject Bush
Plan to Build New Nuclear Reactors, Subsidize Nuclear Industry
With Taxpayer Money;
Public Citizen Analysis Concludes "Nuclear
Power 2010" Hurts Taxpayers, Makes Them Responsible for
Nuclear Risks
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| WASHINGTON
- April 10 - Public Citizen is urging lawmakers to cancel the
Bush administration’s nuclear power expansion plan, known as Nuclear
Power 2010, and reject the recommendations of a government consultant
that suggested ways to lower the industry’s capital costs of new
reactor construction at the expense of taxpayers.
The administration’s
initiative to promote the construction of new nuclear reactors
is enshrined in House and Senate energy legislation. On Thursday,
the House is scheduled to vote on the energy bill (H.R.6), and
senators on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee will vote
on the nuclear title of a separate bill drafted by Chairman Pete
Domenici (R-NM).
Both bills
direct the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to implement the Nuclear
Power 2010 program and authorize spending taxpayer money on it.
Senate legislation more specifically opens the door to unusual
and unacceptable taxpayer subsidies for new reactors, including
loan guarantees and power purchase agreements between the government
and plant operators.
More details
about this program’s likely direction surfaced in a report commissioned
by the DOE, which sought recommendations on how the government
can promote investor interest in nuclear power expansion. That
report, prepared by Scully Capital Services, Inc., a Washington-based
investment banking and financial services firm, is entitled Business
Case for New Nuclear Power Plants: Bringing Public and Private
Resources Together for Nuclear Energy.
The Business
Case report recommended various extreme measures needed to promote
the construction of new nuclear power plants. Among the recommendations
are government power purchase agreements at above market price,
subsidized federal loans, tax-exempt financing and taxpayer-backed
insurance of last resort.
The report
also recommended government action on three "show-stoppers" that
now prevent the construction of new nuclear power plants – nuclear
waste, liabilities associated with catastrophic accidents, and
the potential that successful interventions, such as lawsuits,
could block plants’ operating licenses.
"Nuclear power
poses safety and security risks unlike any other source of electricity,
and the issue of long-term nuclear waste management remains a
costly problem," said Wenonah Hauter, director of Public Citizen’s
Critical Mass Energy and Environment Program. "Throwing more tax
dollars at nuclear power will not make it safer, cleaner or more
economical. Lawmakers should reject the corporate welfare recommendations
contained in the Business Case report."
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