Sunday, October 21, 2007

Citizens Should Not Bear Risks of Nuclear Power

The partial meltdown at Three Mile Island in 1979 left many Americans with grave concerns about the risk of nuclear power – concerns that were only magnified seven years later when the Chernobyl disaster forced the evacuation and resettlement of nearly 400,000 people, with thousands poisoned by radiation.

By then, Three Mile Island was still only halfway finished with a clean-up that would last until 1993, at a cost that ultimately topped one billion dollars. The first few years after the Three Mile Island disaster likewise saw the plant’s owner, the General Public Utilities Corp., teetering on the brink of bankruptcy, struggling to finance the clean-up while battling lawsuits from its shareholders and utility customers. This should have marked the end of the nuclear industry in the US.

Unfortunately, bills passed in both the House and Senate would ease the way for nuclear energy companies not only to perpetuate the grave health and public safety risks associated with nuclear power, but also to expose American taxpayers to the financial risks that nearly buried General Public Utilities Corp.

Read the entire article.

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