Friends of the Earth is fighting the resurgence of interest in new nuclear reactors. We are working in states as well as nationally to stop the push for this dangerous and expensive form of energy.
Nuclear reactor construction is so expensive and subject to cost overruns and loan defaults that private banks won't finance it. That's why reactor construction in the U.S. came to an almost complete halt in the late 1970s and early 1980s. It's also why the nuclear industry is so eager to stick you -- the taxpayer -- with the bill when it defaults on loans for new reactors. Industry executives have admitted that without out a preemptive bailout in the form of taxpayer-backed loan guarantees, it will not build new reactors. Each reactor costs as much as $10 billion, and the Congressional Budget Office estimates the industry will default on more than half its loans. Friends of the Earth is a leader in the fight to stop such a bailout. We were successful in removing up to $50 billion in nuclear loan guarantees from the 2009 economic stimulus package and will keep up the fight.
Friends of the Earth is a leader in the fight to prevent new nuclear reactors from being constructed in North and South Carolina. If built, these could be the first new U.S. reactors in decades. The industry is proposing four new reactors for South Carolina alone. The tremendous construction costs will be passed onto electricity consumers, leading to massive increases in utility bills. Cleaner, less expensive alternatives are available. For more information about this campaign, visit http://www.foe.org/energy/fighting-nuclear-reactors-southeast.
Perhaps the biggest problem with nuclear reactors is that they produce vast quantities of highly radioactive waste, and no one knows what to do with it. This waste is currently piling up at reactor sites around the U.S., and the government currently plans to move this waste on trains traveling through cities around the country to dump it at the unsafe Yucca Mountain site in Nevada. Friends of the Earth is working with allies in Nevada to keep Yucca closed and find a better answer. And before an answer is found, the last thing we need is to increase our output of this waste with new reactors. For more information about our "Don't Dump on Nevada" campaign, visit http://nuclearlie.org/nv/.
