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Issues
> Energy
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Version $375
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Nuclear power has been in decline due to significant economic and environmental problems associated with nuclear power plants. In 1998, Congress eliminated direct nuclear research and development funding. However, this victory for taxpayers and the environment was short-lived. In fiscal year 1999, the Department of Energy (DOE) created the Nuclear Energy Research Initiative (NERI) program in order to attempt to address and overcome the principal technical obstacles to the expanded use of nuclear energy. At the same time, the DOE created the Nuclear Energy Plant Optimization (NEPO) program in a bid to improve the economic competitiveness of existing nuclear power plants. The Nuclear Energy Technologies (NET) program seeks to create "cost efficient technologies" that will assist industry in developing the next generation of nuclear reactors. Green Scissors
Proposal Current Status The administrations fiscal year 2003 budget request zeroed out funding for NEPO, Congress reinstated $5 million dollars for this program in the Omnibus Appropriations Bill. NEPO inappropriately commits federal funds to industry efforts aimed at increasing generating capacity (and corporate profits) at nuclear power plants. Funding for Nuclear Energy Technologies nearly quadrupled in 2003 to $45 million. Most of this will be spent on the Nuclear Power 2010 program, a new initiative unveiled by Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham in February 2002. To facilitate the construction of new nuclear power reactors within this decade, Nuclear Power 2010 contemplates a series of unusual taxpayer subsidies for nuclear generators, such as federal preferred equity and government power-purchase agreements at above-market rates. Companies currently being funded under this program include energy industry giants Dominion, Entergy and Exelon. House energy legislation would
enshrine the DOE's Nuclear Power 2010 program in law and authorize
dramatic funding increases over the next four years for nuclear
energy research and development. The Senate energy bill authorizes
$642 million for the nuclear power research and development.
As well as authorizes an estimated $30 billion in loan guarantees
to build six new nuclear power plants. Project Hurts Taxpayers The federal government has already spent $66 billion on nuclear research and development between 1948-1998. The mature nuclear power industry should be paying for its own commercial research and development costs. Taxpayers should not be in the business of propping up the nuclear power industry. High operating costs and the need for expensive improvements have resulted in the permanent shutdown of 11 U.S. commercial reactors in the last decade. No nuclear plants have been ordered since 1978 and more than 100 reactors have been canceled. Project Hurts the Environment Throwing taxpayer money at nuclear power places it on an uneven footing in relation to clean renewable energy. Proponents of nuclear power argue that it is a "clean" energy source, because it does not produce greenhouse gases. However, the highly dangerous radioactive waste that results from nuclear power eliminates it as an acceptable alternative to fossil fuel. Constructing a nuclear power plant, and the mining and enrichment of uranium for fuel, are extremely energy-intensive processes usually associated with carbon emissions and other environmental hazards. The World Information Service on Energy has estimated the "energy recovery time" for a nuclear reactor (i.e. the time the reactor has to operate before all the energy consumed in its construction and the "front end" of the fuel chain has been earned back and the power station begins to produce net energy) to be 10-18 years, compared to 1 year for oil or gas, 1.5 years for photovoltaic solar systems, and 11 months for wind. Nuclear reactor cooling systems devastate marine life and ecosystems. A cooling technology referred to as "once-through" is used in 59 of the nation's nuclear reactors. These reactors, situated on coastal waters, draw in as much as a billion gallons of water per reactor unit a day -- over a million gallons a minute -- in order to dissipate the extraordinary amounts of waste heat generated in the fission process. The devastation of marine life and ecosystems stems from the powerful intake of water into the reactor. Marine life, including endangered sea turtles and manatees, is sucked uncontrollably into the reactor cooling system. Some of these animals are killed, either through impingement -- animals are caught and trapped against filters and grates -- or drowning and suffocation. Contacts
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