Action: No New Nukes in Wisconsin

Wisconsin's very reasonable restrictions on new nuclear power plants -- saying no new nuclear plants can be built in the state until / unless: (1) nuclear power is economically advantageous for state residents; and (2) there is a designated repository for nuclear waste -- are under attack.

On May 10, the state Joint Legislative Council will receive a special committee report recommending that the above restrictions be revoked. (If you would like to attend the Council meeting, it opens at 8:30 am on Thursday May 10, at the 411 South room of the state Capitol.)

The Wisconsin-based group Nukewatch is encouraging all state residents to contact their representatives in support of the state's restrictions. Their sample letter is copied below. See www.nukewatch.com for more information.

Dear Representative / Senator,

Please vote no on any repeal of state statute 196.493 -- a common sense law that protects the public from unnecessary pollution and nuclear waste. A bill to repeal the law may be introduced by Representative Phil Montgomery (R-Dist 4) May 9.

If passed, the repeal would encourage the building of more nuclear reactors in Wisconsin and increase the likelihood that the state will become a national high-level nuclear waste dumpsite.

If passed, the repeal would eliminate two legal conditions that must now be met before new reactors can be built in Wisconsin:

1) That a federal nuclear waste storage site must be in operation and accepting waste fuel; and
2) That reactor-generated electricity must be economically advantageous to the ratepayer compared with alternatives.

A special Nuclear Power Committee has recommended (March 5, 2007) repeal of these precautionary and fiscally conservative requirements. Its effort is part of an industry-wide push for more reactors (and waste production) nationwide.

Pro-nuclear propaganda has it that nuclear power is "cheap" and "carbon free." But nuclear waste management will cost hundreds of billions of dollars for at least 300,000 years; and the mining, milling and production of reactor fuel creates millions of tons of carbon pollution that the industry ignores.

The proposed Yucca Mountain dump site in Nevada is unfit and should never open. A Nuclear Regulatory Commission member said Feb. 7, 2007 that the Yucca project must be scrapped. This puts Wisconsin near the top of the list of potential national dump sites, especially if thousands of tons of new waste is produced by new reactors.

On April 12, the state of California rebuffed a similar attempt to repeal conditions on reactor construction. Wisconsin should do the same. Please vote no on repeal of State Stat. 196-493.

Sincerely,

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