Americans Favor Moratorium On New Nuclear Reactors

[bananas]

Source: International Business Times

While a drop in public support for nuclear power would be expected after an incident like the Fukushima reactor crisis, the nuclear disaster in Japan has triggered a much stronger response among Americans.

When Japan -- the nation that President Obama held up as an example of safe nuclear power being used on a large-scale basis -- is unable to effectively control its considerable downside, Americans are understandably leery about the same technology being used even more extensively in this nation. And safety concerns about the existing nuclear plants also deserve serious attention.

Majority of the Americans would now support freeze of new nuclear power construction, stop additional federal loan guarantees for reactors, shift away from nuclear power to wind and solar power, and eliminate the indemnification of the nuclear power industry from most post-disaster clean up costs, according to a survey conducted by ORC International for the nonprofit and nonpartisan Civil Society Institute (CSI).

Beyond major nuclear power policy questions, the survey also found a majority of Americans living near nuclear power plants ill equipped to deal with a major disaster.

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Read more: http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/127243/20110327/japan-tsunami-earthquake-fukushima-tepco-daiichi-daini-nuclear-power-plant-nuclear-reactor-nuclear-c.htm

[aquart]

1. I favor a moratorium on the old ones, too.

[bananas]

2. That would be a good idea, too. nt

[dkf]

4. Yup it's the ones that were grandfathered in that we need to be more worried about

[ChairmanAgnostic]

7. but with careful maintenance they can last forever!

or 15,000 miles, whichever comes first.

High pressures, radiation, and oxidation - these are the enemies of all piping in all nuke plants. No matter how thick and well designed, that shit will thin out and get brittle.

Here in Illinois, they did a routine inspection, and by surprise, they decided to increase the level of scrutiny on one pipe. Kind of like a training exercise. To their shock, the superthick pipe in one section had thinned out, without warning or any visible sign, and was ready to burst. They did an emergency shutdown before a potential disaster became a real one.

The NRC called it a blip, and that good practices prevented the small chance of any leak ever happening.

The reality? but for the increased scrutiny, unplanned, unscripted, and not intended to occur, AS A TRAINING EXERCISE, they never would have found the danger.

[dkf]

14. Our gas lines are blowing up, our sewer lines leak,

Our bridges are falling apart and our nuclear plants can work forever?

[grahamhgreen]

3. Wind is cheaper, safer, faster. Give the nuke subsides to renewables, duh.

[Stuckinthebush]

5. Never gonna happen

There is too much money invested in nuclear power. They will easily buy the politicians off. The people don't actually run the country anymore. Companies do.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

17. We've still got a shot.

/unbridledenthusisam

[Stuckinthebush]

18. I hope you are correct

I have become very, very cynical lately.

[City Lights]

6. What the people want is irrelevant.

We will get what our corporate masters want us to have.

[No Elephants]

8. +1

[neoralme]

9. If we were back in the 1950's, we could

have reversed it using the more aggressive methodologies of that period. But now? Probably not.

[Zorra]

10. Because of profit motivation, private enterprise is not now, nor will it ever be,

trustworthy enough to be in control of such a deadly power.

Why trust a bunch of wealthy corporate RWers with your children's lives? That is just flat out suicidal.

They will always pressure workers and cut corners for profit. Workers and managers will cut corners because of supervisor pressure. The industry itself resists regulation

So let's just go ahead and make them illegal, close the book on nukes as a power source, and go full speed toward the future--massive investment in, and implementation of, clean, friendly, alternative energy sources.

[freshwest]

13. That post deserves to be an OP. The sacred cow of capitalist dogma is killing us.

[AndyTiedye]

15. Governments Can't Be Trusted to Run Nuke Plants Either

There were no corporations involved in the building, maintenance, or operation of Chernobyl.
Every aspect of its construction and operation was under the control of the government.

In both Fuykushima and Chernobyl, colossally stupid decisions were made that led to disaster.
In both cases, those in charge of the plants tried to conceal the risks before the fact,
and to conceal the extent of the damage and the danger after the fact.

[joanbarnes]

11. I am SO sick of "surveys!" When did they replace common sense?

[PoliticAverse]

12. Obama Administration Seeks Additional $36 Billion For Nuclear Loan Guarantees

From: http://www.automatedtrader.net/real-time-dow-jones/46677/obama-administration-seeks-additional-36-billion-for-nuclear-loan-guarantees

WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- The Obama administration is hoping to triple the amount of money it's allowed to use to guarantee loans for nuclear power plants, seeking an additional $36 billion for the guarantees in its fiscal 2012 budget proposal.

Created by a 2005 law, the loan guarantees promote the construction of nuclear power facilities by allowing the federal government to serve as a backstop for loan defaults.

[AndyTiedye]

16. Budget Cut Time!

I think we will have to forgo these loan guarantees to pay for our share of the UN expedition in Libya.