“This is the President’s second visit to a U.S nuclear power
plant. His visit today took place in spite of the fact that Osama
bin Laden and al-Qaeda have repeatedly voiced interest in turning
our nuclear plants into well-positioned weapons of mass
destruction. The president can continue to attempt to paint
nuclear power as an alternative to our oil addiction, but the
reality is that this unsafe and unstable source of energy poses a
serious risk to our national security.
The White House chose the Limerick plant for its public
relations tour, as opposed to the three Exelon-owned plants that
are leaking radiation into Illinois groundwater, and did not tour
the site of the former Three Mile Island nuclear facility. He also
did not speak at the Trojan reactor owned by his friends from
Enron, because it would be hard to claim that nuclear power is the
wave of the future when that plant has been shut down for over a
decade and earlier this week, its reactor’s cooling towers were
imploded.
Even though the Limerick nuclear power plant poses a potential
risk to the people of Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey and
Maryland should an accident occur there, don’t worry about the
President’s safety. The Limerick reactor was better defended today
than on any day before or since 9/11. This is the one piece of good
news today, especially because government documents show that
General Electric reactors like Limerick are vulnerable to an
airliner attack.
In order to protect the President, the government today
instituted a no-fly zone around the Limerick reactor.
Unfortunately, for the millions of people at risk during a
meltdown, that no-fly zone will expire shortly after the President
leaves Pennsylvania.
Despite the claims made in the President’s speech, nuclear power
is a deadly and dangerous technology that has proven to be
exorbitantly expensive. The first 75 reactors built in the U.S.
had cost overruns of more than $100 billion, even before the Three
Mile Island meltdown. If nuclear reactors were economically
viable, the government wouldn’t have to subsidize their
construction, and the President would not have to constantly shill
for the nuclear industry.
The President’s Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP) is a
high-risk venture. Increasing commerce in nuclear bomb materials
will not make America safer, but rather create opportunities for
theft and diversion and will provide even more targets for
terrorists. President Bush’s nuclear policy is dangerously wrong,
and hopefully it will not take a dirty bomb or a mushroom cloud to
make him realize it.”
Other contacts: [email protected]
Exp. contact date: 2006-06-24 00:00:00
