Blowing up the idea of nuclear Letter to Editor by David Geary, Saskatoon, April 24, 20121, Calgary Herald
Re: Kenney inks small-scale nuclear power deal, April 15
Premier Kenney, don’t buy a nuclear lemon! Aggressive marketing tactics by small modular reactor (SMR) startup companies are reminiscent of multi-level marketing schemes — a sense of urgency, zealous enthusiasm, wishful thinking trumping market forces, and pie-in-the-sky promises of fabulous wealth, but only if we first sink billions of our own dollars into it.
SMR startups are American. So why the pitch to Canadian politicians? Because, unlike the stricter U.S. nuclear regulator, the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission is perceived as being lax towards SMRs. Notably, it wants to exempt these untested devices from environmental assessment.
Surprisingly, conservative-leaning Alberta and Saskatchewan premiers would both promote the fantasy, especially since nuclear power is inherently socialist in nature. It’s called “Lemon Socialism” by Yale economist Mark Cooper, environmentalist Ralph Nader and others. That term means nuclear cannot exist without enormous endless financial subsidies from taxpayers, then ultimately a few favoured private companies reap any assets and profits, while a soured public is stuck with the radioactive liabilities, the ‘lemons.’
Refer also to:
Reverse Fracking: The Ultimate in Frac Greed, Idiocy & Irresponsibility? Richard & Elizabeth Muller’s “Deep Isolation” seeks funding to frac communities with nuclear waste Frac’ers have proven they cannot control their fracs, and often what is injected even “deeply” does not stay put.
Compendium Conclusion
… There is no evidence that fracking can operate without threatening public health directly or without imperiling climate stability upon which public health depends. In the words of investigative journalist Andrew Nikiforuk:
Industry swore that its cracking rock technology was safe and proven, but science now tells a different story. Brute force combined with ignorance … has authored thousands of earthquakes … [and] called forth clouds of migrating methane…. The science is complicated but clear: cracking rock with fluids is a chaotic activity and no computer model can predict where those fractures will go. The regulatory record shows that they often go out of zone; extend into water; and rattle existing oil and gas wells, and these rattled wells are leaking more methane.1123
Ya, made money for a few dumping billions in debt on investors/banks and massive liabilities for the public and frac’d families and communities.