Nuclear industry watchdog groups blasted Senator Pete Domenici's (R-NM) introduction of the "Nuclear Energy Electricity Assurance Act of 2001" as nothing more than an invitation to legislate the nuclear industry's wish list. The Nuclear Information and Resource Service (NIRS), Safe Energy Communication Council (SECC) and U.S. Public Interest Research Group today said that the Domenici bill, along with provisions of Senate Energy Committee Chairman Frank Murkowski's (R-Alaska) National Energy Security Act, indicates that the nuclear industry is successfully cashing in its campaign chips. But dealt the losing hand are the American people, who would have to suffer the additional radiation poisoning and environmental destruction enactment of these bills would cause. It is difficult to even imagine more anti-environmental legislation than Domenici has offered.
"This is a federal life-support system for a nuclear industry that has failed every market test and lost the public's confidence, " said Paul Gunter, Director of the Reactor Watchdog Project for NIRS. Gunter was referring to the Assurance Act's provisions for a transfusion of federal subsidies to nuclear utilities and contractors and the elimination of meaningful public participation in the regulatory oversight process. These incentives include federal intervention to renew the industry's unique liability insurance, curtail the public's right to know and legally intervene in safety and licensing issues at atomic reactors, and stem the closure of university nuclear engineering programs due to dwindling enrollments.
"Look-out taxpayers! Congress is slopping the nuclear power hogs yet again," said Scott Denman, SECC's Executive Director. "Last week it was Senator Murkowski. This week it's Senator Domenici's turn to dump $400 million a year into the nuclear power industry's trough. The bill's largess runs the gamut from the abominable to the questionable, including vague, new "gift acceptance authority" for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission," said Denman
"This bill does nothing to solve energy problems," said Anna Aurilio, staff scientist for U.S. Public Interest Research Group (US PIRG). "Instead of supporting energy efficiency programs and clean renewable energy sources that don't generate radioactive waste, this bill would worsen our energy problems by diverting hard-earned tax dollars to corporate welfare for the nuclear industry."
The bill would do the industry's bidding to speed the construction of new reactors through federal subsidies for cost competitiveness studies of "advanced" nuclear designs versus natural gas plants, by encouraging the dubiously-safe extension of operational cycles up to six years between refueling, and helping the industry boost power ratings at existing reactors. The bill proposes to "level" the playing field by deeming the nuclear industry an "environmentally-preferable" product and pulling federal funding from domestic and international organizations that oppose nuclear power development, such as the World Bank.