John McCain has been calling for 40 new nuclear power plants. Obama, while less ambitious, certainly hasn't taken nuclear off the table. There's a two part question I'd like to ask of the candidates, one that neither has bothered to answer and, more likely, is able to.
First, explain to the American public the costs of subsidizing nuclear power and the nuclear industries in general. The current number is astronomical, what would it be to bring forty more plants online? The free ride currently in place protects the companies who build and operate nuclear facilities from prosecution or any other responsibility for accidents, toxic waste cleanups, or other malfeasance. So, even if the company is horrendously negligent in their actions, the taxpayers have to pay the price in ever way--economically, environmentally, and physically. As it stands there have been countless "accidents" that aren't publicized. The reason you don't hear about most of these is because they are at the front end of the process. There's no China Syndrome or Chernobyl or Three Mile Island action, it's just mining contamination of water sources, the atmosphere, and the land in general. Most of these go unnoticed because they are either in the desert or on an Indian reservation somewhere--places America doesn't bother to care about, in other words. Mine talings and waste storage facilities leak and fail on a regular basis. That is, the ones that were ever not expected to in the first place. Much of the four corners region is affected. The Rio Grande and other major rivers have all been contaminated. Nevada might as well be written off. Groundwater sources in many areas are chock full of radioactive isotopes--liquid carcinogens waiting for you to drink 'em up. Nobody wants a storage facility built anywhere near them, the NIMBY Syndrome, because they always fail. The one that was supposed to be fool proof for three hundred years? Failed in fourteen. And this waste is radioactive for thousands of years, not hundreds, not decades. The most likely place is the infamous Yucca Mountain site (of course, on Indian land). Guess what? Yucca Mountain is in the midst of an actively volcanic region sitting on several fault lines. Comforting. Very comforting. It's only a matter of time before the Colorado River is hopelessly contaminated, eliminating the supply of drinking water for much of Nevada, Arizona, parts of northern Mexico, etc. And that's with the stuff we already have.
So, aside from the cost in the form of subsidies and the inherent risks associated with mining and storage, what do we do about the waste? There is absolutely no such thing as waste free nuclear energy. Even if you never had to mine another gram of uranium. Even if you never had to take any more uranium to a processing plant for refining. Even if all you had to do was build the plants, fuel 'em up, and flip the switch, there will be waste to deal with. Radioactive waste. So-called "spent" fuel rods are highly radioactive and deadly. Even with the seemingly magical "reprocessing" that McCain refers to there is more than enough radioactive waste from a single power plant to kill every person on earth. Seriously. I'm not kidding about that. What are we supposed to do with the waste from forty more plants? If you think too many people are dying from cancer now, just wait. Within fifty years cancer rates will skyrocket and even the Government will have trouble blaming it on something other than exposure to radioactive materials. If you want to talk about a "Silent Killer," radiation more than fits the bill.
There is no such thing as safe nuclear power.
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