Nuclear Nightmares Could Haunt Texas
Clean Energy Could Save Texas From Wasting Billions

For Immediate Release
October 29, 2008

Contacts:
Karen Hadden – SEED Coalition 512-797-8481
Cyrus Reed – Lone Star Sierra Club 512- 477-1729
Eliza Brown – Public Citizen 512-477-1155
Dr. Elliot Trester – Austin Physicians for Social Responsibility

Download press release in pdf format for printing.

Austin – Texas consumer and environmental organizations held a news conference today to expose seven monstrous nuclear nightmares, all reasons to oppose the construction of more nuclear reactors in Texas. The press conference was held outside of two buildings near the Capitol that the activists called “nuclear catacombs” since they contain the offices of three companies trying to build six nuclear reactors in Texas, Luminant, Exelon and NRG. Two additional reactors are proposed by Amarillo Power, bringing the total to eight commercial reactors planned for Texas.

“Nuclear nightmares could haunt Texas forever if the nuclear energy dragon prevails,” said Karen Hadden, Director of the Sustainable Energy and Economic Development (SEED) Coalition. “These nuclear nightmares include economic disaster, sleeping security guards, massive water consumption and contamination risks, radioactive leaks, radioactive waste, routine radionuclide emissions, and terrorism risks, and accidents or meltdown. Nightmare enough?”

• Economic disaster could result from the high cost of building new reactors. Nuclear reactors will eat billions of dollars each year that could be used to feed less expensive and less polluting renewable energy and energy efficiency programs. Without being fed a vast diet of federal and state government subsidies these plants would never be built. The estimated cost of the proposed South Texas reactors have already more than doubled since they were announced. If they are built they will provide power that is far most costly than alternatives. The Exelon reactors could run up to $22 billion, before cost overruns.
• Most people laugh at the idea of Homer Simpson running a nuke, but guards have been caught and televised while sleeping on the job at Exelon’s nuclear reactors. Human error and mistakes are the most likely cause of a catastrophic reactor failure. Being asleep can’t help.
• Call Joe the Plumber- we’ve sprung a leak. Leaks from Exelon’s Braidwood, Dresden and Byron led to tritium-contaminated water in Illinois. Don’t Nuke the Guadalupe. Proposed nuclear reactors could suck the Guadalupe and the Colorado rivers almost dry, since they use vast amounts of water. More than 75,000 acre/feet of water could be consumed every year by Exelon’s proposed reactors.
• Radioactive waste lasts over a million years. Low-level radioactive waste could be hot for hundreds of thousands to over a million years. Texas’ waste disposal plan calls for a private company to manage a low-level dump, but the company would only be licensed to operate it for 15 years. The company could then renew its license or decide that it has profited enough, close the dump and walk away, leaving the mess to the state of Texas. This is also true if the company just folds up and vanishes into the night.
• What about terrorist attack? Security at the South Texas nuclear site has failed basic tests. Proposed nuclear plants don’t have to be hardened to withstand a jetliner hitting them. Has the NRC have forgotten about 9-11?
• Whoops… it’s just a little hole. A crack in one South Texas reactor led to the escape of a small amount of radioactive material from the reactor vessel. The Davis Besse Nuclear Reactor in Ohio developed a hole in the reactor vessel that was six inches deep and seven inches wide. This hole could have led to a serious accident if coolant water was lost. Nuclear plants are permitted to vent radioactive gasses as much as 22 times each year. Radioactive emissions cause cancer.
• Accidents happen and nuclear accidents are forever. We don’t need to learn the hard way.

Appearing in a skit as Mr. Burns (of The Simpsons) Reed said, “What good is money if it can’t inspire terror in your fellow man? New taxpayer-subsidized nuclear plants in Texas will allow me to make money and inspire terror!”