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The Nuclear Genie Despite Risks, Economic Flaws, Industry Still Pushing Nuclear Energy

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The Nuclear Genie Despite Risks, Economic Flaws, Industry Still Pushing Nuclear Energy | Nuclear Safety | The Nuclear Genie Despite Risks, Economic Flaws, Industry Still Pushing Nuclear Energy By Wenonah Hauter or the past 30 years, Public Citizen has worked activists who were challenging the nuclear industry in with grassroots activists to create a sustainable, dozens of communities. Citizens attending the confer- Fnuclear-free energy future. While the anti-nuclear ence heard the shocking news that Karen Silkwood, a movement has been successful in crippling the industry, whistleblower from a plutonium fuel fabrication plant in our work is far from over. The industry is fighting for Oklahoma, had been killed in a car crash as she drove to survival, and its proponents hope for a renaissance as the meet a union official and a reporter from The New York government lowers safety standards and establishes a pub- Times to share evidence about the hazardous working licly owned dump to take possession of the industry’s conditions at the Kerr-McGee plant. deadly radioactive waste. Silkwood’s death galvanized the In 1974, when Ralph Nader anti-nuclear movement into action, organized the Critical Mass anti- resulting in strong grassroots opposi- nuclear conference in Washington, tion to nuclear power and the siting D.C., attended by more than 1,000 of nuclear waste dumps. Citizen activists, the nuclear industry was in activism prevented electric utilities its heyday. Many believed that its from building many of the plants technology would power our future. they envisioned. In all, 93 reactors But just five years later, the worst have been canceled over the past nuclear accident in U.S. history, at three decades. Opponents stopped Pennsylvania’s Three Mile Island, the industry and its allies in govern- created a tectonic shift in the ment from building nuclear waste American public’s view of the indus- dumps around the country to “dis- try, engendering deep suspicion of pose” (although no safe method of the technology. Even before Three disposing of waste exists) of low- Mile Island, the industry’s prospects level nuclear waste. And so far, uni- were waning. Twenty reactor projects had already been fied action has prevented the government from establish- canceled. In fact, to date, no new reactors have been ing a dump for high-level waste in an inappropriate ordered and subsequently completed in the United States location at Yucca Mountain, Nev., although that debate is since 1973. The last one to be completed — Watts Barr still raging and the nuclear industry has spent a fortune in in 1996 — took 23 years to finish, at a cost of more than campaign contributions to win the votes of members of $7 billion. Congress. Despite the economic shortcomings and the risks of Now the industry is attempting to extend the licenses catastrophic failures, the nuclear industry continues to of its aging nuclear plants 20 years beyond the initial 40 operate more than 100 plants in the United States and is years that the reactors were expected to operate. At the building dozens of new plants overseas. same time, because the Nuclear Regulatory Commission At the time, the 1974 conference, which inspired the (NRC) wants to help the industry be cost-competitive in creation of Public Citizen’s Critical Mass Energy Project, a newly deregulated electricity market, the agency is dras- provided a national focal point for the scattered local tically lowering the bar for safety. Under the guise of effi- ciency, the agency is conducting “risk analyses” that have the effect of reducing regulation and exposing the public Wenonah Hauter is director of Public Citizen’s Critical to more risk from nuclear accidents. Mass Energy and Environment Program. Meanwhile, pro-nuclear forces in the government are 12 Public Citizen News Protecting Health, Safety & Democracy Since 1971 working to create a new standard for how much radiation people can be exposed to in their daily lives. And pro- nuclear scientists are working overtime to persuade poli- Nuking Food cymakers that low-level radiation is not as dangerous as Irradiation Raises Safety Concerns once thought. The goal of these efforts is to help the nuclear industry foist its nuclear trash onto the public and ublic Citizen’s expertise in nuclear issues has enable the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to get rid led to our recent work on an emerging health of the waste from the production of nuclear bombs. Pand environmental issue — food irradiation. While in 2000 we were successful in pushing DOE to We are engaged in a battle over what kind of food temporarily suspend the release of radioactive metals for supply our children will have. Will our children and recycling into household products, the NRC is proceed- grandchildren have access to fresh, wholesome ing toward setting a standard that will make it easier to food? Not if large, multinational corporate interests reuse contaminated metals and soil. If we fail to stop the have their way. The nuclear and agribusiness indus- NRC in this standard-setting process, we could see the tries have teamed up to promote the use of irradia- widespread release of radioactivity into the public tion, a technology that uses the equivalent of mil- domain. We could see radioactive materials from bomb- lions of chest X-rays to extend the shelf life of food making plants being recycled into household goods and and to kill bacteria. so-called “low-level” waste being dumped into landfills, Under the guise of protecting the public from where it could contaminate drinking water. We are food-borne illness, this harmful and unproven already seeing radioactive waste being used to “irradiate” nuclear technology is being foisted upon the public food supplies, a process that raises a host of troubling to increase corporate profits. The meat industry, for questions. Beyond our goal of prohibiting reuse, a key example, wants to speed up slaughter lines — even issue is whether any of the food products will be labeled if this results in contamination — and use irradia- to allow consumer choice. tion to lower the incidence of meat contamination The easing of regulatory constraints could make it rather than increase inspections. Corporate interests cheaper and easier for electric utilities to dismantle also plan to use irradiation to produce food more defunct nuclear plants. For instance, in one irresponsible cheaply. They hope to raise meat, fruits and vegeta- method of decommissioning called “rubblization” that is bles in countries like Mexico, Chile, Brazil and being proposed, the interior concrete surface of a nuclear China where they can pay workers pennies an hour, plant is partially decontaminated, and the rest of the con- escape environmental regulation and use pesticides crete, steel and other materials are crushed and dumped that may not be legal in the developed world. into the foundation hole. Then the rubble is covered with Irradiation plays a significant role in this plan a soil cap. The result is the creation of a low-level radia- because it triples shelf life and kills insects and bac- tion dump without any public input that would normally teria, which means food can be transported longer accompany a state or federal regulatory process. distances. Reducing the costs for decommissioning reactors and Unfortunately, irradiation has been legalized by a relaxing radiation standards are an important prerequisite flawed process at the U.S. Food and Drug Admin- for the industry’s goal of reducing costs. But the indus- istration (FDA). Irradiation initiates a complex try’s plans for the 21st century are much more ambitious, sequence of reactions in food that literally rips apart and as a result of globalization and the movement toward its molecular structure. It destroys vitamins and electric utility deregulation, they will be easier to pursue. enzymes and creates potentially harmful chemical Beginning in the late 1970s, large industrial corpora- combinations. The FDA has legalized radiation of tions joined right-wing ideologues in calling for deregula- fruit, vegetables, beef, pork, lamb, eggs and spices. tion of the electric industry. Large electricity users no It is only through the vigilance of citizens that the longer wanted to pay the high rates that stemmed from tide can be turned. Pro-irradiation forces are push- the expensive mistake of nuclear power. Calls by large ing for the repeal of already-weak labeling that is industries for utility deregulation found a ready chorus in mandated for irradiated food. Consumers must academics, analysts and politicians who wanted to spout demand that their elected members of Congress the “free market” ideology. At first, the electric utilities maintain and strengthen labeling. At the same time, strenuously opposed attempts to end their highly prof- in the few states where irradiated food is being sold, itable monopolies. Those with heavy nuclear debt wor- consumers must clearly say no. The future of our ried that they would be unable to survive if their ratepay- food supply is at stake. Continued on page 28 Special Anniversary Issue Public Citizen News 13 The Nuclear Genie 1996 levels until 2002. Utilities, which supported the Continued from page 13 rate freeze when they helped draft the law, now seek to end it because the price they are paying to buy power ers were free to purchase electricity from other providers. from out-of state suppliers far exceeds the rate cap they But, because electric utilities are so powerful in their are allowed to charge consumers. state legislatures, they quickly learned they could achieve Unless investor-owned power companies are regulated, huge ratepayer bailouts in exchange for rewriting the they will always take advantage of consumers. Regu- rules about how electricity is lation is needed to keep power suppliers from charg- sold. So far, 24 states have ing the highest prices they can.
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