Nuclear Information and Resource Service
Tell the White House and Congress:
Don’t Sacrifice our Economy and Environment to a Nuclear Bailout
(July 16, 2021) — Proposed nuclear bailouts being pushed through Congress right now threaten our best opportunity to act on climate and revitalize the economy. Senators Cardin (D-MD), Whitehouse (D-RI), and Carper (D-DE) want Congress to include a massive subsidy for nuclear power plants in what is currently a good renewable energy bill.
The senators’ proposal would give as much as $50-$100 billion to dangerous, expensive nuclear power plants.
A groundbreaking new report by economist and consumer advocate Dr. Mark Cooper shows that these subsidies for nuclear energy would undermine the goals of President Biden’s infrastructure and climate plans.
Subsidizing aging nuclear reactors and other false solutions would obstruct the transition to a zero-emissions energy system and squander the economic and environmental benefits that such a transition would yield. Dr. Cooper’s report concludes that the best investment for climate, jobs, and the economy is in a rapid transition to a renewable, modern energy system, phasing out nuclear power along with fossil fuels.
We can create a just, equitable, thriving economy and solve the climate crisis by investing in renewable energy and modernizing our electric grid, but not if we keep bailing out nuclear energy. Nuclear power has no place in our just, prosperous, clean energy future. We can’t let Congress continue to subsidize dirty and unjust energy systems while failing to enact the just transition we need and deserve.
Our elected leaders must seize the opportunity to create a better, cleaner, more equitable energy future and not sacrifice the economy and the environment to nuclear bailouts.
Send a message to your members of Congress, President Biden, and Vice-President Harris telling them to say NO to nuclear bailouts and YES to a prosperous economic future, climate action, and environmental justice.
ACTION: Tell President Biden, Vice-President Harris, and your representatives in Congress: “No Nuclear Bailouts in America’s Clean Energy Plans — We Need 100% Renewable Energy by 2035!”
In recent weeks, two bills have been introduced that would provide massive subsidies to decades-old nuclear power plants. We cannot afford to sacrifice our climate and our economic future on bailouts for aging, uneconomical nuclear power plants, and I ask you to oppose these proposals. We simply must not waste the next decade and billions of dollars propping up old power plants instead of building the clean, safe, affordable renewable energy solutions that we need to address climate change.
Sen. Cardin has introduced a bill, the “Zero-Emissions Nuclear Power Production Tax Credit Act of 2021,” which would provide at least $5 billion per year to uncompetitive nuclear power plants. Over a ten-year period, that would add up to at least $50 billion, and could pave the way for including such a measure in legislation to enact President Biden’s American Jobs Plan. Please oppose this bill.
In addition, the bipartisan infrastructure bill you announced two weeks ago includes at least $9.6 billion in subsidies for unprofitable nuclear reactors through 2030. In contrast, the bill would provide less than $500 million for all sources of renewable energy — and then only for “demonstration projects.” How can we possibly respond to the climate crisis with the scope and scale it requires if we spend twenty times more on bailouts for 40-years-old nuclear power plants than on building the new, renewable energy sources that will actually reduce emissions? Please work to ensure that nuclear subsidies are removed from the bipartisan infrastructure bill.
Both of these bills represent completely misplaced priorities. A new report by economist and consumer advocate Dr. Mark Cooper shows that these subsidies for nuclear energy would undermine the goals of President Biden’s infrastructure and climate plans. In contrast to renewables, subsidizing aging nuclear reactors and other false solutions would obstruct the transition to a zero-emissions energy system and squander the economic and environmental benefits that such a transition would yield.
Dr. Cooper’s report concludes that the best investment for climate, jobs, and the economy is in a rapid transition to a renewable, modern energy system, phasing out nuclear power along with fossil fuels. Focusing on the transition to 100% renewable energy will feed a virtuous cycle of job creation, climate protection, technological innovation, and cost reduction.
The American Jobs Plan could help us save the country and the world from the ravages of climate change we are already experiencing: unprecedented heat waves, cold-freezes, forest fires, droughts, mega-storms, crop failures, and flooding. But not if it includes bailouts for dirty, dangerous, unjust, uneconomical nuclear power. We must set the country on the path to 100% renewable energy by 2035 – fossil fuel-free and nuclear-free.
Report: Nuclear Subsidies Waste Taxpayer Dollars:
Renewables Offer Cheaper, More Reliable Alternatives
Nuclear Information and Resource Service
Proposals from the White House and Congress would invest up to $50 billion dollars in subsidies for aging, uneconomical nuclear power plants over the next decade. A new report by economist and consumer advocate Dr. Mark Cooper shows that these subsidies for nuclear energy would undermine the goals of President Biden’s infrastructure and climate plans. In contrast to renewables, subsidizing aging nuclear reactors and other false solutions would obstruct the transition to a zero-emissions energy system and squander the economic and environmental benefits that such a transition would yield.
Dr. Cooper’s report concludes that the best investment for climate, jobs, and the economy is in a rapid transition to a renewable, modern energy system, phasing out nuclear power along with fossil fuels. Focusing on the transition to 100% renewable energy will feed a virtuous cycle of job creation, climate protection, technological innovation, and cost reduction.
“Dr. Cooper’s report shows conclusively that subsidizing nuclear power will compromise President Biden’s goals for the American Jobs Plan,” said Tim Judson, executive director of NIRS. “Billions of dollars for old nuclear power plants will block renewable energy and real solutions to climate change. It will not create a single new job, and prevent the creation of thousands more jobs. And it will prolong racial and economic injustice, subsidizing radioactive waste while keeping energy costs high. We can create a just, equitable, thriving economy and solve the climate crisis by investing in renewable energy and modernizing our electric grid, but not if we keep bailing out nuclear energy.”
