Nuclear reactor roulette

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Stiglitz put it: “When others bear the cost of mistakes, the incentives favor self-delusion. A system that socializes losses and privatizes gains is doomed to mismanage risk.”

Before the Fukushima disaster, Wall Street was unwilling to put private capital into new nuclear reactors. Too risky, they said. In the aftermath of this ongoing tragedy, you can bet they will be even less enthusiastic about assuming such huge risks.

That means the nuclear industry has no place to go but the American taxpayer, who suddenly is confronted with an untenable choice: Underwriting the costs of a financial default, or underwriting the costs of a massive disaster.

Why are some politicians so eager to risk taxpayer dollars and lives to continue our reliance on this dangerous and costly energy technology?

It has to do with campaign contributions.

The nuclear industry has run a decade-long campaign to garner support from lawmakers, spending some $600 million on lobbying and nearly $63 million in campaign contributions in just 10 years. This money has earned the industry loyal friends in Congress, some of whom have received hundreds of thousands of dollars from nuclear backers.

What have taxpayers gotten in return? An energy option that is not safe. It is not economical. It’s an option that holds the American people liable for billions if something goes wrong. Nuclear power is an option that has survived only through massive public subsidies. And now the nuclear industry and its allies in Washington want to pile on billions more.

Dr. Brent Blackwelder is president emeritus of Friends of the Earth U.S. Copyright 2011 by The American Forum.