Wind Shift Investment in wind spikes post-plan, empirics Schneider et al 11 Mycle – consultant and project coordinator, Antony Frogatt – consultant, Steve Thomas – prof of energy policy @ Greenwich University, “Nuclear Power in a Post-Fukushima World 25 Years After the Chernobyl Accident” World Nuclear Industry Status Report 2010-11, [Premier] There could hardly be a more symbolic picture for the tête-a-tête of renewables and nuclear power than the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan. The disaster shut down 11 of the country’s nuclear reactors, at least six of which are now condemned, but the Japanese Wind Power Association stated, “there has been no wind facility damage reported by any association member, from either the earthquake or the tsunami.”1 Within three weeks of the disaster, Fukushima operator TEPCO, one of the five largest electricity utilities in the world, lost more than three-quarters of its share value, while the Japan Wind Development Company nearly doubled its stock price.
energy, as well as the related proliferation of nuclear technologies, can and does have disastrous consequences. The only certain way to eliminate this potentially devastating risk is to phase out nuclear power altogether. Some countries appear to have learnt this lesson. In Germany, the government changed course in the aftermath of Fukushima and decided to go ahead with a previously agreed phase out of nuclear power. Many scenarios now foresee Germany sourcing 100% of its power needs from renewables by 2030. Meanwhile Italian citizens voted against plans to go nuclear with a 90% majority. The same is not yet true in Japan. Although only three out of its 54 nuclear reactors are online and generating power, while the Japanese authorities conduct "stress tests", the government hopes to reopen almost all of these and prolong the working life of a number of its ageing reactors by to up to 60 years. The Japanese public have made their opposition clear however. Opinion polls consistently show a strong majority of the population is now against nuclear power. Local grassroots movements opposing nuclear power have been springing up across Japan. Mayors and governors in fear of losing their power tend to follow the majority of their citizens. The European level response has been to undertake stress tests on nuclear reactors across the union. However, these stress tests appear to be little more than a PR exercise to encourage public acceptance in order to allow the nuclear industry to continue with business as usual. The tests fail to assess the full risks of nuclear power, ignoring crucial factors such as fires, human failures, degradation of essential infrastructure or the impact of an airplane crash.
operating two years earlier (Mark Hibbs, “After 30 Years, PAEC Fulfills Munir Khan’s Plutonium Ambition,” Nucleonics Week, June 15, 2000). A 2001 Department of Defense report states that the reactor “will produce plutonium,” but does not say whether it was operating (U.S. Department of Defense, Proliferation: Threat and Response, January 2001, p. 27). 25 David Albright, “Pakistan’s Inventory of Weapon-Grade Uranium and Weapon-Grade Plutonium Dedicated to Nuclear Weapons,” Institute for Science and International Security, October 19, 2015; David Albright and Serena Kelleher-Vergantini, “Khushab Reactors Operational While New Construction Progresses,” Institute for Science and International Security, February 29, 2016. 26 “Reprocessing” refers to the process of separating plutonium from spent nuclear fuel. 27 According to a 1983 State Department document, the New Laboratories facility was capable of extracting small (continued...) Pakistan’s Nuclear Weapons Congressional Research Service 5 began operating.28 Pakistan also appears to be constructing a second reprocessing plant at PINSTECH29 and may be completing a reprocessing plant located at Chasma.30
Political stability. Globally, civil nuclear power production has often been accompanied by, and in some cases led to, the spread of nuclear weapons and the threat of nuclear proliferation. Further deployment of nuclear power raises genuine concerns about the proliferation of nuclear materials, especially in politically sensitive regions. Energy expert José Goldemberg notes that of the nine developing countries that have installed nuclear reactors for electricity production (Argentina, Brazil, China, India, Iran, Mexico, Pakistan, South Africa, and North Korea), five of them (China, India, Pakistan, South Africa, and North Korea) developed nuclear weapons, although South Africa later dismantled its stockpile.10 And Argentina and Brazil both had weapons programs, even if they did not actually manufacture them. The current case of Iran provides an even more graphic example, given the considerable concern within the international community about Iran’s nuclear program and the risk of direct or indirect leakage.
UK Politics DA Insider political support for nuclear energy from nuclear lobby and conservative politicians in the UK Lucas 12 [Caroline Lucas, MP for Brighton Pavilion and a member of the cross-party parliamentary environment audit committee, “Why we must phase out nuclear power,” The Guardian, February 17, 2012, ] [Premier] In the UK, the government is determined to push ahead with the development of a new fleet of nuclear reactors, as the partnership announced by David Cameron and Nicholas Sarkozy shows. The orchestrated effort between coalition officials and the nuclear industry to create a pro-nuclear public information campaign in the days after Fukushima showed that not even a large-scale nuclear incident could halt ministers' obsession with new nuclear. Officials did not even wait for the results of the government's own safety review before rushing to assure the British people that a similar disaster is not possible in the UK. Now, the proposed electricity market reform is set to rig the energy market in favour of nuclear – with the introduction of a carbon price floor likely to result in huge windfall handouts of around £50m a year to existing nuclear generators. Despite persistent denials by ministers, this is clearly a subsidy by another name, making a mockery of the coalition pledge not to gift public money to this already established industry. The Energy Fair group is arguing that the cap on liabilities for nuclear accidents is technically a subsidy and therefore illegal under EU law – and is now taking the case to the European commission.
A2 US Modeling US isn’t modeled-key developing countries chart their own course and the US loses influence in the NSG Squassoni 13 [Sharon (2013) The limited national security implications of civilian nuclear decline, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, 69:2, 22-33, DOI: 10.1177/0096340213477997] [Premier] Just as other countries continued to pursue nuclear power through the US Òdark agesÓ when no new nuclear plants were ordered, some countries will chart their own course on nuclear energy, regardless of what happens in the United States. China and India will continue to build and possibly export nuclear power plant technology, and South Korea is likely to do the same. If nuclear power makes a slow exit in the United States, the country may face major challenges in maintaining coherence within the Nuclear Suppliers Group and among new nuclear technology suppliers in support of the nonproliferation objectives that the United States has worked so assiduously to promote.
Elections—Rollback Impact rolls back the aff – Trump loves nuclear; Clinton solves it Follett 16 Andrew, energy and environment reporter, The Daily Caller, “Here’s Where The 2016 Candidates Stand On Nuclear Power” [Premier] Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton: The former Secretary of State claimed to be “agnostic about nuclear power” in the 2007 YouTube Democratic Primary debate. As a result, she rarely directly discusses nuclear energy, though one of her campaign fact sheet claims she favors “advanced nuclear,” which requires “expand[ing] successful innovation initiatives, like ARPA-e, and cut those that fail to deliver results.” Sen. Bernie Sanders: The Vermont senator vehemently opposes nuclear power. He opposes the construction of new nuclear reactors “when we do not know how we get rid of the toxic waste from the ones that already exist.” Sanders’ campaign website states “Bernie has called for a moratorium on nuclear power plant license renewals in the United States.” Donald Trump: The real estate mogul has made strong public statements supporting nuclear power, but tends to favor further development of natural gas. In the aftermath of the 2011 Japan Fukushima nuclear disaster, Trump told Fox News “nuclear is a way we get what we have to get, which is energy.” “I’m in favor of nuclear energy, very strongly in favor of nuclear energy,” Trump said. “If a plane goes down people keep flying. If you get into an auto crash people keep driving.”
neutralise the US lead in this domain.” Toshi Yoshihara, an associate professor at the US Naval War College, said he had expected the US, which had maintained a formidable edge in the undersea domain, would continue to invest in its submarine force to keep and even widen its lead. Last autumn, the US Navy’s Office of Naval Research unveiled a three-metre-long semi-autonomous submarine drone capable of acoustic surveillance, anti-submarine warfare (ASW) and other offensive operations longer than 70 days in the open ocean and littoral seas. ‘Underwater tornadoes’ found near China’s nuclear submarine base by Paracels that could sink U-boats in treacherous abyss.
T-Nuke Power=energy Nuke power = energy produced by atomic reaction West Law 08 West's Encyclopedia of American Law, edition 2. Copyright 2008 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved. [Premier] A form of energy produced by an atomic reaction, capable of producing an alternative source of electrical power to that supplied by coal, gas, or oil.
Indonesia Indonesia is looking to build nuke power, but most of the country is prone to earthquakes and tsunamis Schneider et al 11 Mycle – consultant and project coordinator, Antony Frogatt – consultant, Steve Thomas – prof of energy policy @ Greenwich University, “Nuclear Power in a Post-Fukushima World 25 Years After the Chernobyl Accident” World Nuclear Industry Status Report 2010-11, [Premier] Hudi Hastowo, head of Indonesia’s National Atomic Energy Agency (Batan), told the Jakarta Post that using nuclear energy was one of the best solutions to address the country’s power shortage issue. He played down safety issues that critics have been voicing, saying that it would be safe to operate a nuclear plant.8 Chalid Muhammad from the environmental NGO Indonesia Green Institute, however, has argued that the government should stop the plan to build a reactor because 83 percent of Indonesia’s area is prone to disasters such as earthquakes and tsunamis. “The government should focus on building decentralized power plants that use renewable energy sources, such as micro-hydro and geothermal plants,” Muhammad said, stating that these small-scale plants can meet the needed electricity demand and are much safer compared to larger plants.9 Environment Minister Gusti Muhammad Hatta observed in mid-March that Indonesia is not ready to build nuclear plants due to human resource issues and public opposition. He argued that nuclear power plants should be the last resort because the country has several other energy options. But Gusti’s statement comes even as Batan insists on going ahead with its nuclear program despite mounting opposition.10