Experts: Leaks Could Turn NY's Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant Into Chernobyl-Like Disaster

Reactor Reax Top Stories...

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(WASHINGTON D.C.) - Leaks in a New York nuclear power plant could set off a Chernobyl-type of disaster, experts say. That is the first story examined in this collection of articles gathered and distributed by Physicians for Social Responsibility.

We learn that mayors in the state of Florida are leading the nuclear opposition there, and Taxpayers for Common Sense presses ahead for FOIA Info on Vogtle Loans.

We glean from an op-ed by Mark Cooper with the San Antonio Express, that NewsSolar flap misses point on energy and nuclear subsidies, and in a Huffington Post op-ed, Elliott Negin raises the question, Will Boehner's Pork Project Be The Next Solyndra?

These stories and more, in this special weekly roundup of articles about nuclear power and the many problems that always seem to accompany this industry.

Experts: Leaks could turn New York's Indian Point nuclear power plant into Chernobyl-like disaster, New York Daily News, October 18, 2011. "Manhattan and the Bronx would be uninhabitable if the accident-prone Indian Point nuke plant suffered a Chernobyl-like disaster, an environmental group charged Monday. A massive radiation release similar to the 1986 catastrophe in Ukraine could also contaminate Brooklyn and chunks of Queens and Staten Island, according to a report by the Natural Resources Defense Council."

Mayors lead opposition to Fla. nuclear power fees, Associated Press/Miami Herald, October 21, 2011. "Florida law lets utilities charge customers for planned nuclear power plants before they are operational and even if they never get built. South Miami Mayor Philip Stoddard and Pinecrest Mayor Cindy Lerner on Thursday urged that it be repealed. They also are against $337 million in nuclear fees proposed for 2012. The Public Service Commission will consider them Monday."

SACE, Taxpayers for Common Sense Press Ahead for FOIA Info on Vogtle Loans, Savannah (GA) Business Journal, October 16, 2011. "The Southern Alliance for Clean Energy (SACE) is accusing the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) with stonewalling on the leading environmental groups requests for information on what SACE terms the full extent of the risks to which taxpayers 'are exposed in the massive commitment of $8.33 billion in conditional federal loan guarantees to Southern Company and their utility partners for two proposed new nuclear reactors at Plant Vogtle in Georgia.' This week, SACE will press ahead with its Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) litigation so that U.S. taxpayers can learn more about taxpayer-backed obligations for the proposed Vogtle reactors which the group claims is roughly 15 times greater than the failed Solyndra solar panel company loan guarantee."

Solar flap misses point on energy and nuclear subsidies, (op-ed by Mark Cooper), San Antonio Express News, October 20, 2011. "Although the solar industry receives significant subsidies — loan guarantees among them — it still is a market-driven industry. It must raise capital in financial markets. It must purchase liability insurance. It must make its sales in competitive markets. On the other hand, for more than 50 years the construction of nuclear reactors in the United States has been the recipient of an array of massive subsidies and other special arrangements that go way beyond loan guarantees and insulate it from market forces." Cooper is a senior research fellow at the Institute for Energy and the Environment.

Will Boehner's Pork Project Be The Next Solyndra?, (op-ed by Elliott Negin), Huffington Post, October 19, 2011. "Fox Business last month sat House Speaker John Boehner down for his take on the collapse of Solyndra, the California solar panel maker that squandered a $535-million federal loan guarantee. When asked if the government should be 'gambling taxpayer money on green energy companies,' the Ohio Republican replied that 'new energy sources are going to have to stand on their own' and the 'federal government should not ... be in the business of picking winners and losers.' New energy sources should 'stand on their own'? Boehner apparently doesn't feel the same way about 'old' energy sources--namely oil and gas, coal, and nuclear--which have been sucking on the federal teat for more than 50 years. And as far as picking winners and losers, he takes a very different tack when it comes to bringing home the bacon. Boehner has been pushing a $2-billion loan guarantee for a southwestern Ohio uranium enrichment plant that could wind up being a much worse bet than Solyndra--nearly four times worse." Negin is the director of news and commentary at Union of Concerned Scientists."

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