Coalition urges Obama not to promote "dirty and dangerous technologies such as nuclear reactors" during State of the Union address

Beyond Nuclear, along with 44 other environmental, safe energy, anti-nuclear, public interest, and peace groups from across the country, have urged President Obama to not promote "dirty and dangerous technologies such as nuclear reactors" as "clean" in his State of the Union address on Tuesday evening, January 25th. Rumors are swirling that President Obama (pictured left delivering the 2010 State of the Union address) is considering asking Congress to enact a "Clean Energy Standard" that would include such dirty, dangerous, and expensive energy sources as nuclear power, coal, natural gas, and biomass. Regarding nuclear power, the coalition told the President: 

"Nuclear energy is not clean and it is not a viable solution to climate change. Nuclear reactors and nuclear fuel cycle facilities emit toxic radiation into our air and water on a routine basis at every stage of the process. By poisoning our air and water, nuclear energy endangers public health and the lives and wellbeing of future generations. After more than 60 years of searching we still have not found a viable solution for dealing with radioactive nuclear waste and most of it is sitting in pools at reactor sites across the country. Any long term disposition will require high level radioactive waste to be shipped across the country, creating immense risk of accidents and incidents all the while moving and not solving the waste problem. Despite billions in government subsidies at every stage of the fuel cycle, nuclear reactors remain too expensive to compete with cheaper and cleaner renewable alternatives on the open market, and thus new reactors remain dependent on government financing for any chance of completion. Finally, given the energy demands of the nuclear fuel cycle, from mining to milling, from enrichment to fuel fabrication, from storage to disposition, it is patently ridiculous to suggest that nuclear power is carbon free. Taken together with the safety and proliferation risks implicit to nuclear power, nuclear reactors are clearly a failed technology of the past and not the clean, renewable energy source we need in the future."