From: Greenpeace via Jym Dyer <jym@mica.berkeley.edu>
Newsgroups: misc.activism.progressive,alt.activism,sci.energy,talk.environment
Subject: NEWS: True Costs of Commercial Nuclear Power -- The Economic Failure
Followup-To: sci.energy,talk.environment
Date: 8 Jan 1993 00:45:33 GMT
Organization: The Naughty Peahen Party Line
NNTP-Posting-Host: remarque.berkeley.edu
Keywords: energy environment press

[Greenpeace Press Release from Greenbase -- Redistribute Freely]
 
GREENPEACE REPORT EXPOSES TRUE COSTS OF COMMERCIAL NUCLEAR POWER: 
HALF-A-TRILLION DOLLARS SUNK, $97 BILLION OUT OF PUBLIC COFFERS   
 
WASHINGTON, December 15, 1992 (GP) Greenpeace, in conjunction
with Komanoff Energy Associates (KEA), today released the first
definitive study of the accumulated costs of nuclear power in
the United States from 1950 through 1990.
 
Two years in production, the ground-breaking FISCAL FISSION:
THE ECONOMIC FAILURE OF NUCLEAR POWER writes the bottom line
for the massive government, industry and ratepayer investment
in commercial reactors.  The report is coauthored by Charles
Komanoff and Cora Roelofs, leading energy-costing experts.
FISCAL FISSION shows that commercial atomic power has thus
far cost $492 billion dollars, $97 billion of which in the
form of federal subsidies.
 
"FISCAL FISSION is the first full-scale compilation of
taxpayer subsidies and utility investments in commercial
reactor technology," said Peter Grinspoon, Director of
Greenpeace's Nuclear Power Campaign.  "Taxpayers and
ratepayers have pumped at least half-a-trillion dollars
into commercial atomic power since 1950 in exchange for
a declining 8% of our national energy supply."
 
According to co-author Cora Roelofs, "The cost estimates in
FISCAL FISSION are very conservative.  They take only those
costs that could be fully documented and rigorously quantified.
It shows that atomic-generated electricity has cost consumers
an average of at least 9.0 cents a kilowatt-hour, far more
than other readily available fuels."
 
"This report teaches us that without even counting liabilities
such as accidents and waste, nuclear power has failed on
economic grounds," said Grinspoon.  "Nuclear power is untenably
expensive and at best will play a dwindling role in the future
energy economy of this country.  It simply can't compete."
 
Komanoff and Roelofs based their work on the massive database
built up by KEA over nearly two decades of studying the U.S.
nuclear power industry and serving as a prime source of
information on electrical generating costs.  Komanoff has
published three books and numerous articles in technical
journals on the economic and environmental impacts of energy
supply and demand.  In 1980, then-Governor Bill Clinton cited
Komanoff as "a leading nuclear power economist . . . [who]
dispelled the notion of 'cheap' nuclear power."
 
 
FISCAL FISSION finds that: 
 
* From 1950 to 1990, U.S. taxpayers, consumers and investors
spent $492 billion to develop and obtain nuclear power.  This
means that commercial nuclear generation during the entire
period 1950-1990 cost an average of 9.0 cents/kWh (all figures
are in 1990 dollars).
 
* Four-fifths of this amount, $396 billion, was expended by
utilities.
 
* The remaining 20%, $97 billion, was spent by the federal 
government and, thus, borne by taxpayers. 
 
* The $492 billion total represents a minimum figure for
resources spent on nuclear power through 1990.  Excluded costs
could well total $375 billion dollars in categories such as
health effects of radiation, accidents, artificially low
insurance costs and support for foreign reactor development --
even without counting the almost certain escalation in future
waste and decommissioning costs.
 
* During 1968-1990 alone, $160 billion more was spent on nuclear
electric generation than would have been spent generating the
same electricity with fossil fuels.
 
"The money spent on nuclear power comes at the expense of the
development of safe, clean sources of electricity such as solar
and wind power," continued Grinspoon.  "It's time to stop
throwing good money after bad."
 
 
FOR MORE INFORMATION: 
Peter Grinspoon, Jeanne Whalen (Greenpeace): 202/462-1177, 
202/3192517 
Harvey Wasserman (Greenpeace): 614/231-0507 
Cora Roelofs, Charles Komanoff (Komanoff Energy Associates): 
212/334-9767 
 

Copies of the full report are available from the Greenpeace
office, 1436 U St., NW, Washington, DC 20009.
Newsgroups: misc.activism.progressive