SAFE, CLEAN ENERGY ADVOCATES REJECT OBAMA'S CALL FOR MORE NUCLEAR POWER

Supporters of genuinely safe, clean energy technologies sent more than 3,000 letters to President Obama in less than 48 hours demanding an end to proposed federal loan guarantees for new nuclear power reactors and challenging his State of the Union statement that nuclear power is safe and clean.

Pointing to radioactive tritium leaks at more than 20 nuclear reactors sites discovered in the past few years, many of the letters asserted forcefully that nuclear power has proven neither safe nor clean. Letter writers also took strong issue with reported accounts that President Obama is considering tripling the amount of money available for taxpayer-backed loan guarantees for new reactor construction.

"President Obama needs to remember what Candidate Obama promised: no more taxpayer subsidies for nuclear power," said Michael Mariotte, executive director of Nuclear Information and Resource Service (NIRS). "Renewables and energy efficiency provide both greater carbon emissions reductions and more jobs per dollar spent than nuclear. Unlike nuclear power, they are relatively quick to install, and are actually safe and clean."

NIRS provided a link to a youtube video in which then-candidate Barack Obama expressed concern about his daughters even living in Chicago, which is surrounded by nuclear reactors, and said he opposed taxpayer subsidies for nuclear power. The video can be seen at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-R52J2D5QQU.

"The American people have made clear they are tired of taxpayer bailouts for giant corporations," said Mariotte. "And the nuclear loan guarantee program could end up being the largest bailout of all. The Congressional Budget Office predicts 50% of new nuclear projects will fail and leave taxpayers holding the bag. That translates into potentially tens of billions of dollars in losses if the loan guarantee program is expanded."

"President Obama must rethink his priorities, and quickly," said Mary Olson, Southeast Regional Coordinator for NIRS in the region where the majority of new reactors are proposed. "Nuclear power accounts for some six times the carbon emissions of wind power per kilowatt/hour of electricity produced, and 2-3 times the amount of solar power. Energy efficiency programs are dozens of times less carbon-intensive. Nuclear is not a climate solution; indeed, it would make the problem worse by diverting tens of billions of dollars that could be spent on safe, clean, cost-effective energy sources."

"If the President actually submits such an outrageous loan guarantee proposal-and we still hope he won't-we call upon the Congress to reject it quickly and decisively," said Mariotte. "Nothing could be more counterproductive to addressing the climate crisis and setting our economy on course for new green jobs than to waste our limited resources on dirty, dangerous and extraordinarily expensive new nuclear reactors."

The count of letters sent to President Obama, and to Energy Secretary Steven Chu, is based on figures submitted directly through NIRS' website. It does not include many phone calls and letters submitted outside NIRS' site.