[GPSCC-chat] [Fwd: [Fwd: Update: Japan nuclear crisis takes turn for worse/take action]]

[Cameron L. Spitzer]

For the last 25 years, a mutual fund manager could get fired
for suggesting his fund invest in a nuke fission power plant.
The defacto moratorium began not with any enviro groups'
lawsuit nor any safety disaster.  It was the WPPSS bond default
that killed nuke fission in the US.  That's because nuke fission
is wildly expensive compared to any other widely deployed
prime mover, and only *seems* cost-competitive when huge public
subsidies are hidden.  WPPSS failed to secure the usual
subsidies, and its investors lost everything.  Nuclear power
isn't just unsafe, it's a collossal scam!

The big public subsidy in the US is the Price Anderson Act
liability cap.  Without that, no nuke fission operator can
afford insurance.  All it would take to kill nuke fission in
the US permanently would be to repeal Price Anderson.

I believe that's where activists should focus.  Safety
arguments are vulnerable because people don't know how to
assess risk rationally, so they become uninformed, nonsensical
shouting matches.  So you don't convince anyone who wasn't
already on your side.  Safety arguments preach to the choir.
But when you argue cost, you sound like you know what you're
talking about and you can convince people who are proud of
their skepticism.

-Cameron