10 Reasons Not to Invest in Nuclear Energy

[NeoGreen]

https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/green/news/2008/07/08/4735/10-reasons-not-to-invest-in-nuclear-energy/


Three Mile Island, pictured here near Middletown, PA, was the site of the worst nuclear accident in the United States. Ongoing safety concerns are just one reason that investing in nuclear energy is a bad idea.

10 Reasons Not to Invest in Nuclear Energy
Posted on July 8, 2008, 9:00 am

Nuclear power generates approximately 20 percent of all U.S. electricity. And because it is a low-carbon source of around-the-clock power, it has received renewed interest as concern grows over the effect of greenhouse gas emissions on our climate. Yet nuclear power’s own myriad limitations will constrain its growth and make it an infeasible solution for making energy more affordable as well as more sustainable.

1. Nuclear faces prohibitively high—and escalating—capital costs.
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2. Plant construction is limited by production bottlenecks.
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3. New nuclear plants probably won’t be designed by American companies.
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4. Unresolved problems regarding the availability and security of waste storage.
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5. Nuclear faces concerns about uranium supplies and importation issues.
In 2007, the United States imported 47 million pounds, or 92 percent, of its uranium. Increased nuclear capacity would either make us more dependent on foreign uranium, or have us risk repeating the environmental debacle of the uranium boom that accompanied the buildout of the U.S. nuclear arsenal and the first wave of nuclear power plant construction.

6. Nuclear reactors require water use amid shortages.
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7. Safety concerns still plague nuclear power.
After the Three Mile Island and Chernobyl accidents, the United States stopped granting licenses for new nuclear plants. The crises demonstrated that the nuclear industry is vulnerable to public concern. While modern reactors are safer than those that failed in the past, another accident anywhere in the world could turn public opinion against nuclear power as a whole.

8. Nuclear is already a mature technology—it will not get cheaper.
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9. Other clean energy technologies are cheaper, cleaner, and faster to build.
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10. Nuclear subsidies take money away from more effective alternative energy subsidies.
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[hunter]

1. Makes natural gas industry have sad.