100+ Groups Oppose Latest Nuclear Bailout Scheme

Over 100 groups sent a letter today to Senators opposing the American Nuclear Infrastructure Act, a pro-nuclear bill scheduled for markup today in the Environment and Public Works Committee.

The bill would increase uranium mining by mandating the creation of a domestic uranium reserve, subsidize existing reactors in wholesale markets at the expense of renewables, and worsen the risk of nuclear proliferation by prioritizing investment in waste reprocessing and other technologies. The full text of the letter is available here.

"Nuclear power is a dead-end for climate and environmental justice," said Tim Judson, Executive Director of the Nuclear Information and Resource Service. "It is too dirty, too dangerous, too expensive, and too slow, and is rooted in racial justice and human rights violations. The last thing we need is for Congress to waste time and money to make those problems worse, as this bill would do. Clean, safe, affordable renewable energy solutions are here, now."

"Enacting this short-sighted giveaway would have dire consequences for impacted communities and for the climate, said Lukas Ross, Program Manager at Friends of the Earth. "The nuclear industry needs to be phased out, not subsidized at the expense of taxpayers and energy consumers."

"Recent research at the University of Sussex has shown that nuclear energy is in direct competition with renewable energy and that countries that invest more in nuclear energy, invest less in renewables," said Mitch Jones, Policy Director at Food & Water Watch. "This bill misdirects our investment away from technologies that will speed the deployment of renewables and into an industry that is already being propped up by rate-payer subsidies. Instead of propping up the nuclear energy industry, Congress should be driving the transition to truly renewable energy."

"It is time for Congress to end the legacy of radioactive colonialism of Indigenous bodies and of our lands and territories. We are forced once again to say no to an unsustainable cradle-to-grave nuclear fuel cycle from the extraction of uranium ore from our Mother Earth, processing, power generation, and proliferation of vast amounts of radioactive and toxic wastes that could end up being transported through and dumped in lands having significant historical, cultural and spiritual value to Indigenous nations and its peoples," said Tom Goldtooth, Indigenous Environmental Network.

"All nuclear power has been good for lately are bribery scandals and criminal guilty pleas for fraud," saidTyson Slocum, Public Citizen's Energy Program Director. "Congress should be busy helping struggling families in need, not gifting more handouts to an ethically-challenged industry. "