Argument: The cost of nuclear power causes cuts in safety measures

Support

• David Lochbaum, Nuclear Safety Engineer Union of Concerned Scientists. “Costly and Dangerous”. Mother Earth News. April/May 2006 – “There is no question that nuclear power is a dangerous, high-risk technology, but nuclear power’s poor economics is the primary reason that no nuclear plant ordered since 1974 has been completed.

There is a strong link between economics and safety. Reactors in the United States have been badly managed and poorly regulated. As a direct consequence, their costs have been higher and their safety levels have been lower than necessary. Evidence supporting this conclusion comes from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and its predecessor, the Atomic Energy Commission, which have licensed a grand total of 130 nuclear power reactors in the United States. Fifty times during that period, a U.S. nuclear reactor had to be closed for a year or longer to restore safety levels. This is neither economical, nor safe. Yet we experienced it again and again. U.S. reactors were badly managed and poorly regulated, and unless those two systemic problems are addressed, the future of nuclear power in the United States will probably be a replay of its troubled past.”