Antinuclear

How the USA’s Price Anderson Act passes nuclear industry risks on to the tax-payer

 The industry would not exist at all, period, if the federal government didn’t absorb this risk.  What’s more, those affected by massive radiation leaks are in no way guaranteed anything if their properties and businesses find themselves swimming in radiation. 

The Truth About Radiation  Joe Giambrone OpEdNews  3/20/2013  “…….Another factor that most in the public don’t know about is the Price Anderson Nuclear Industries Indemnity Act of 1957.  Indemnity?  That’s a curious word to be found in an act of congress, no?  Why would a private for-profit electrical generating industry need the federal government to grant it “indemnity?”  What does this law have to do with the nuclear power stations, perhaps in your neck of the nation?

That is quite curious, indeed.  The law caps the liability of the companies that run these power plants.  It shields them from the consequences of their actions, their giant dirty bombs, which are routinely operated in a reckless manner and not maintained at anything approaching a reasonable degree of safety.  Plants across the United States have exceeded their 40 year initial design lifespans, and yet remain in operation with leaking pipes and worn out critical safety systems.  Often emergency generators won’t even operate at all, and these are not kept in proven working condition.

The Price Anderson Act rewards this culture of recklessness by shifting the burden onto a minimal insurance fund that isn’t even paid unless a meltdown occurs.  Once a meltdown occurs, the industry as a whole is required to chip in a token amount per year with the federal government left holding the bag to the tune of unknown billions of dollars.Simply put, no private insurance company will take on the risk of insuring entire cities, entire regions against a nuclear calamity.  The industry would not exist at all, period, if the federal government didn’t absorb this risk.  What’s more, those affected by massive radiation leaks are in no way guaranteed anything if their properties and businesses find themselves swimming in radiation.  If the patterns witnessed so far hold true, the standard response to a meltdown is to claim that a radiated zone is clean enough to go on living in, whether you and your family are contaminated or not.  The end result of a fictional, feel-good spun reality is that the people on the receiving end are out of luck, and those responsible for massive environmental calamities walk away with fat bank accounts…….”.http://www.opednews.com/articles/The-Truth-About-Radiation-by-Joe-Giambrone-130320-470.html

March 22, 2013 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Uncategorized