Christian Parenti - First Iraq, Now Energy

After doing some amazingly courageous reporting from various war zones, Christian Parenti is now busy with energy reporting for The Nation. This one a rather long article on his take on nuclear power.

A Nuclear Energy Renaisance Wouldn't Solve Our Problems, But It Would Rip Us Off - Alternet - 06 May 08

"In an effort to jump-start a 'nuclear renaissance,' the Bush Administration has pushed one package of subsidies after another. For the past two years a program of federal loan guarantees has sat waiting for utilities to build nukes. Last year's appropriations bill set the total amount on offer at $18.5 billion. And now the Lieberman-Warner climate change bill is gaining momentum and will likely accrue amendments that will offer yet more money.

"All of which raises the question: why is the much-storied "nuclear renaissance" so slow to get rolling? Who is holding up the show? In a nutshell, blame Warren Buffett and the banks -- they won't put up the cash."

"Sixty years ago, the technology was swathed in manic space-age optimism -- its electricity was going to be 'too cheap to meter.' While that wasn't true, nuclear power did serve a key role in the cold war: spent nuclear fuel rods are refined for weapons-grade plutonium and enriched uranium. That fact aside, rarely has so much money, scientific know-how and raw state power been marshaled to achieve so little. By some estimates, an investment of several hundred billion dollars has led to a U.S. nuke industry of 104 operating plants -- about a quarter of the global total -- that produces a mere 19 percent of our electricity."

Christian Parenti - First Iraq, Now Energy

After doing some amazingly courageous reporting from various war zones, Christian Parenti is now busy with energy reporting for The Nation. This one a rather long article on his take on nuclear power.

A Nuclear Energy Renaisance Wouldn't Solve Our Problems, But It Would Rip Us Off - Alternet - 06 May 08

"In an effort to jump-start a 'nuclear renaissance,' the Bush Administration has pushed one package of subsidies after another. For the past two years a program of federal loan guarantees has sat waiting for utilities to build nukes. Last year's appropriations bill set the total amount on offer at $18.5 billion. And now the Lieberman-Warner climate change bill is gaining momentum and will likely accrue amendments that will offer yet more money.

"All of which raises the question: why is the much-storied "nuclear renaissance" so slow to get rolling? Who is holding up the show? In a nutshell, blame Warren Buffett and the banks -- they won't put up the cash."

"Sixty years ago, the technology was swathed in manic space-age optimism -- its electricity was going to be 'too cheap to meter.' While that wasn't true, nuclear power did serve a key role in the cold war: spent nuclear fuel rods are refined for weapons-grade plutonium and enriched uranium. That fact aside, rarely has so much money, scientific know-how and raw state power been marshaled to achieve so little. By some estimates, an investment of several hundred billion dollars has led to a U.S. nuke industry of 104 operating plants -- about a quarter of the global total -- that produces a mere 19 percent of our electricity."