The Catskill Chronicle

By Mort Malkin

Flash — Obama proposes new nukes! The “Law ’N Order” column, almost complete, will have to wait. Dissidents will have to move their anti-nuclear protestations to the front burner, ahead of the US wars in Asia, ahead of global heating and cap ’n trade scheming, and ahead of the collusion between the Department of the Treasury and Wall Street.

Obama has selected Georgia as the site of two new nuclear reactors. Georgia will become number one. There is no objection from Washington State, (home of the Hanford Nuclear Reservation) — the government never told them the truth about the permanency of nuclear waste. South Carolina was fed up with the accumulation of 36 million gallons of liquid hi-level radioactive waste at the Savannah River nuclear works. Did Obama think no one would notice that Congress just this month defunded the Yucca mountain project, leaving no place for the now and future spent (but still radioactive) fuel rods and other hot stuff? The Senate and House even mandated closing the offices at Yucca Mountain as well as halting all construction. The people of Nevada are delirious. Nearby Las Vegas was especially relieved, but not only because they will avoid the risks of [a nuclear] Russian Roulette. It is rumored that the gambling interests think Yucca Mountain can make a new Super Casino. $5 billion of construction has already been done, but radioactive waste has not yet been brought in. Moreover, Yucca Mountain is claimed by the Shoshone as Indian territory, as a sacred site, in fact. What better location for an Indian casino?

Now about global heating. The proponents of nuclear power say that nuclear power doesn’t create carbon dioxide or other pollutants, as coal does. But, don’t ask them about the environmental damage of mining & refining, transporting ore and finished fuel rods, and bringing in the building materials to build cooling towers and reinforced concrete containment structures. It takes about six years of privatized efficiency to complete a nuclear power plant and install the reactors — all done with squeaky clean building techniques that are free of carbon dioxide generation. Believe the squeaky clean part at your own peril. We may take environmental concerns a step back to uranium mining. It is a radioactive business. The mines are located in Navaho territory, the Southwest. How convenient: the natural resource right in the midst of a human resource population with high unemployment rates. The mining companies could afford to pay the miners well — no need to worry about retirement pensions that drag out till employees are old and gray. Wait, are you telling me that former Navaho miners have high cancer rates? Shh.

Then, there’s the matter of free enterprise and capitalism. After Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, and several near misses elsewhere around the world, insurance for nuclear plants became impossible to come by except at rates that represent the actual risks. Nor are the investment banks of Wall Street able to raise money for building any new nuclear plants. What will the Republicans in Congress do now that Obama has proposed government intrusion with $8+ billion in loan guarantees. The idea of the government crashing the free enterprise party, even with very little regulation, has brought the conservative Heritage Foundation and the Cato Institute out to oppose new nuclear plants with attendant government backing. There seems to be few among us with a shred of human philosophy who thinks we should be splitting the atom to create the heat to boil the water to spin the turbines to make electricity. The Gadfly Research and Revelry team has investigated the logic of the whole thing. It seems that Obama comes from Chicago, where the home offices of Exelon are located. That’s Exelon, the largest operator of nuclear power plants in the US. The White House Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel, used to be an investment banker for Exelon. David Axelrod, the President’s special advisor, was once a lobbyist for Exelon. That’s better — now the loan guarantees make sense.

We need to tell the White House and its occupants they better start balancing corporate money against our votes. Maybe Michelle Obama will listen.