December 22, 2009
Source : blog
Safe, clean, cheap, reliable and secure? No, no, no, no and no.
As we’ve pointed out many times before, there are five central promises made by the nuclear industry and its supporters on behalf of nuclear power: that it is clean, safe, cheap, reliable and secure.
The thing is, you can read the news about the nuclear industry on any given day and find stories that torpedo those promises. Each day we publish the latest nuclear news on nuclear reaction.
Safe? ‘Arizona State University will lead a $41 million research project to develop systems to help first responders assess radiation exposure in the event of a large-scale nuclear disaster’. (The US government is launching a wider nuclear safety programme that will cost up to $400 million.)
Clean? ‘An Exelon Nuclear monitor located about a mile away from Three Mile Island in Dauphin County picked up trace amounts of radiation during the same week workers were exposed to contamination at the plant.’
Cheap? ‘The Harper government confirmed yesterday it is calling for bids on the reactor wing of Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd… AECL hasn’t sold a new reactor in years and its maintenance costs are spiking. In each of the last two years, Ottawa was forced to spend hundreds of millions in extra funding on AECL to cover costs that were not forecast in its main spending estimates.’
Reliable? ‘Troubleshooters at the Millstone nuclear power complex were working Monday to find the cause of an electrical short that triggered an automatic shutdown of Unit 3, one of two nuclear reactors at the plant… the utility is buying power from other sources to make up for Unit 3′s lost output while the investigation continues.’
Secure? Does the Millstone nuclear power complex offer security of supply? How about the Unit 1 reactor at Three Mile Island which has been out of action since October 26? If the Arizona State University’s worst fears come to pass I think we can safely assume electricity supplies will be interrupted. AECL may be about to put its reactor designs and expertise into the hands of a foreign bidder. We thought nuclear power meant less reliance on other countries?
Another promise we wish the industry would make and keep is that it will be open, transparent and honest. The thing is, when you look at today’s story about the rigged public consultation in Ontario, Canada (a story repeated all over the world), you realise that this is another promise the industry could never keep in a million years.
