Antinuclear

France’s “Nuclear Socialism” a warning to USA

“This analysis shows the greatest danger is not that the U.S. will import French technology, but that it will replicate the French model of nuclear socialism,”…“  go to France to see more nuclear means less renewables and energy efficiency,”

U.S. Nuclear Industry Will Remain Ward of the State, as in France, Report Warns By Sara Stroud SolveClimate,   Sep 16, 2010 Government subsidies of nuclear power plans could hitch U.S taxpayers to a technology that suffers out-of-control costs while pushing aside renewable energy development, according to a study released last week by the Vermont Law School’s Institute for Energy and the Environment.
The study looks at the nuclear energy industry in France, where an aggressive nuclear program has resulted in three-quarters of the country’s power coming from nuclear sources. But it says that what has been hailed as a “nuclear miracle” in the European nation should serve as a cautionary tale of over-dependence on nuclear power.
“This analysis shows the greatest danger is not that the U.S. will import French technology, but that it will replicate the French model of nuclear socialism,” said Mark Cooper, the report’s author and a senior research fellow for economic analysis at the Vermont Law School Institute. “Nuclear power will remain a ward of the state, as has been true throughout its history in France.”
The report comes as U.S. utilities are developing what would be the first new domestic nuclear plants in three decades, and lawmakers consider extending federal loan guarantees to help pay for such projects……

Such guarantees would be a raw deal for taxpayers, Cooper said.

“It’s highly unlikely that the problems of reactor construction will be solved by an infusion of federal loan guarantees,” Cooper said. “U.S. policymakers should resist efforts to force the government into making large loans in terms that put taxpayers at risk in order to save a project or industry that may not be salvageable.”……

while the nuclear industry would continue to lean on federal support, the report says it could also hamstring renewable energy development by siphoning off funding and other resources.

France has been slower than its European counterparts to adopt renewable energy and energy efficiency measures, the report says. Meanwhile, in the United States, states where utilities are not pursuing nuclear plants have set higher renewable energy procurement targets and stronger energy efficiency programs.

“You don’t have to go to France to see more nuclear means less renewables and energy efficiency,” Cooper said.

U.S. Nuclear Industry Will Remain Ward of the State, as in France, Report Warns | Reuters

September 20, 2010 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | energy, uranium | antinuclear, climate change, energy, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear wastes, uranium