Senator John McCain’s plan to build up to a 100 new nuclear reactors
could cost taxpayers an estimated $280 billion and presents a
significant risk for the economy and the public, while doing little to
solve America’s energy problems, according to a new report by
Environment America.
"America needs a new direction on energy, but Senator McCain’s
plan would be serious setback to our economy and to prospects for clean
energy," said Anna Aurilio, of Environment America. "These ‘McNukes’
would super-size our tax bills, our energy bills and our nuclear waste
problems," she added.
Since private investors have been unwilling to finance new
nuclear power plants, the industry has been applying to the federal
government for taxpayer-backed loans. The Congressional Budget Office
assumes that these loans are so risky at least 50% would default.
Environment America estimates that taxpayers could be on the hook for
$126 billion to $280 billion in failed nuclear loans.
"As the country struggles with an economic meltdown, it’s
astonishing that Senator McCain is proposing massive subprime loans to
the nuclear industry," said Aurilio. "We’ve all seen what happens when
Wall Street takes foolish risks, now Senator McCain’s plan asks
taxpayers to foot the bill for building new nuclear plants that even
Wall Street has refused to pay for," she added.
McCain has repeatedly called for building 45 new nuclear
reactors before 2030 with an ultimate goal of building 100 new plants.
Environment America’s report shows:
A $280 Billion Cost to Taxpayers: Nuclear plants are enormously
expensive. The cost of 45 reactors is likely to be at least $315
billion, while 100 reactors would cost at least $700 billion. Under
McCain’s plan, taxpayers are estimated to be on the hook for $126-280
billion in failed nuclear loans, with the average American household
paying $1,100 to more than $2,400 for failed nuclear loans.
A Job Creation Fantasy: New nuclear power plants would create,
at best, one-fourth as many jobs as McCain claimed during the second
presidential debate, costing taxpayers as much as $19 million for each
permanent job created.
Failure to Take Advantage of Cleaner, Cheaper Alternatives: Clean
energy technologies like energy efficient products, super-efficient
buildings and wind and solar power can deliver environmental results
and meet more of our energy needs much sooner than building new nuclear
power plants, and create more jobs at a lower cost to taxpayers-without
the collateral environmental and security risks.
Environment America estimates that McCain’s plan would create
enough highly radioactive waste to fill a second Yucca Mountain-sized
dump and dramatically increase the amount of nuclear waste transported
on our roads and rails. The report also concludes that the plan would
do nothing to deal with our current energy crisis since no new power
would be generated until at least 2019.
"Senator McCain is so vehement about building these nuclear
plants that he has turned a deaf ear to what we just learned about
risky loans and how much they can hurt tax payers," said Aurilio. "This
is especially alarming given Senator McCain’s consistent failure to
support the kinds of clean energy investments that can strengthen our
economy and save us money," she concluded.
The report, "Senator McCain’s Nuclear Plan: An Economic and Environmental Disaster," can be found here.
In Related News…
Similar to the issues the U.S. is facing in disposing of nuclear
waste, the U.S. also has a disturbing legacy of chemical weapons, the
disposal of which is costing billions of dollars.
A new report on Portfolio.com examines how a disposal project that was
supposed to be completed in 1994 at a cost of $2 billion dollars will
drag on for at least another decade to the tune of roughly $36 billion.
Read "America’s Most Toxic Business."
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