Nuclear industry suffers major defeat in Iowa

Green State Solutions' logoFriends of the Earth has just reported a major victory against new reactors: "Despite intense industry lobbying and contributions, Iowa Senate adjourns without passing ill-advised ‘cost recovery’ bill"! Congratulations to all the groups who fought so hard to win this important victory! Kevin Kamps of Beyond Nuclear met one of them, Mike Carberry, director of Green State Solutions, who visited the Beyond Nuclear information table and attended Kevin's "Nuclear Power Is Not the Answer!" workshop at the Midwest Renewable Energy Fair in Wisconsin this past Summer Solstice. Mike ordered a whole box of Beyond Nuclear's beautiful wind power and solar power postcards, in order to be non-violently "armed" if and when this battle has to be re-fought next session in the Iowa state legislature. You too can order our postcards. Use them to urge your friends, family, neighbors, and co-workers to write their elected officials, to demand a renewables renaissance, and an abolition of dirty, dangerous, and expensive nuclear power.

FPL halts two new reactors targeted at Turkey Point!

In what appears to be a major victory for anti-nuclear efforts in Florida, the state's Public Utility Commission  (PUC) has rejected Florida Power and Light's (FPL) request for a massive electricity rate increase, which would have largely gone to pay for two new Toshiba-Westinghouse AP-1000 reactors at its Turkey Point nuclear power plant near Miami. This victory is all the more significant, in that the State of Florida had already empowered its PUC to approve "Construction Work in Progress," charging ratepayers on their bills in advance to build new reactors, many years before any electricity is actually delivered. However, the PUC has decided to refuse such charges.  FPL responded by halting its plans to pursue the two new reactors past the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission licensing phase. Thus, continued anti-nuclear vigilance will be required, as FPL will undoubtedly try again to force its ratepayers to bear the financial burdens and risks of building new reactors, while offering little to none of the projected profits in return. David Kraft of Nuclear Energy Information Service in Chicago asserts that this decision could well set back the nuclear power relapse nation-wide.

Vogtle's new reactors to benefit not only from Georgia CWIP, but also from federal loan guarantee

SACE has clearly stated the irony of the nuclear power plant that did as much as any to kill the atomic bandwagon in the 1970s and 1980s -- a poster child for cost overruns -- now being poised to receive the first nuclear loan guarantee from the Energy Dept. This will put billions of dollars of U.S. taxpayer money at risk, and makes no sense whatsoever given the "rising financial risks, reduced demand for power, cheaper renewables and huge potential of energy efficiency." The State of Georgia has also approved Construction Work in Progess. Thus, ratepayers will also be made unwilling shareholders by being charged for Vogtle's electricity in advance of its availability, in order to finance construction costs, an arrangement that is illegal in most states.

Nuke subsidies: "All risk, no reward, for taxpayers and ratepayers"

A new report, "ALL RISK, NO REWARD, FOR TAXPAYERS AND RATEPAYERS: THE ECONOMICS OF SUBSIDIZING THE 'NUCLEAR RENAISSANCE' WITH LOAN GUARANTEES AND CONSTRUCTION WORK IN PROGRESS," by Mark Cooper, Senior Fellow for Economic Analysis at the Institute for Energy and the Environment of the Vermont Law School, shows that the American public could face trillions of dollars of financial risk and added costs if a new generation of atomic reactors is built in the U.S.