The press conference was Thursday. See what you missed on this streaming version..
Report Fact Sheet
Read and download the full report here.
“Dr. Cooper’s report shows conclusively that subsidizing nuclear power will compromise President Biden’s goals for the American Jobs Plan,” said Tim Judson, executive director of NIRS. “Billions of dollars for old nuclear power plants will block renewable energy and real solutions to climate change. It will not create a single new job, and prevent the creation of thousands more jobs. And it will prolong racial and economic injustice, subsidizing radioactive waste while keeping energy costs high.
We can create a just, equitable, thriving economy and solve the climate crisis by investing in renewable energy and modernizing our electric grid, but not if we keep bailing out nuclear energy.”
Explore Dr. Cooper’s Report
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… NEWS MEDIA AND DAYBOOK ADVISORY FOR JULY 15TH, 2021 …
BIDEN INFRASTRUCTURE PLAN:
BAILOUT FOR NUCLEAR PLANTS NOT PATHWAY TO GREENEST GRID
Report to Show Proposed Nuclear Industry Subsidies Will Waste Taxpayer Dollars, Renewables Cheaper and More Reliable Alternative
WASHINGTON, DC – NEWS ADVISORY – Economist and consumer advocate Dr. Mark Cooper, the Nuclear Information and Resource Service, Friends of the Earth and other experts will hold a live, video-based news conference on Thursday (July 15th) at 12 p.m. EDT to show how the United States can get to the greenest grid fastest, by avoiding up to $50 billion in federal nuclear subsidies and facilitating the shift to 100% renewables.
WHAT
Release of a major new report by Dr. Mark Cooper that dives into the federal subsidies question for existing nuclear reactors and the viability of a 100% renewables electricity grid. The nuclear subsidy proposals focused on in the Cooper report are: Senator Manchin’s Energy Infrastructure Act; Senator Cardin’s Zero-Emission Nuclear Power Production Credit Act of 2021, Senator Cardin’s amendment to the Clean Energy for America Act, and the infrastructure reconciliation bill being negotiated by the Biden Administration and Congressional leaders.
WHO
Speakers participating in the news event include:
- Dr. Mark Cooper, senior research fellow for economic analysis, Institute for Energy and the Environment, Vermont Law School;
- Tim Judson, executive director, Nuclear Information and Resource Service (NIRS):
- Lukas Ross, program manager, Friends of the Earth; and
- Jessica Azulay, executive director, Alliance for a Green Economy in New York.
WHEN
Thursday, July 15th, 2021 at 12 p.m. EDT for the live video-based news event. A streaming version of the news event will be available later that same day at https://www.nirs.org/.
WHERE
RSVP to participate in the news event by registering here. Reporters will be provided a link to participate directly in the event, including the Q&A period. Reporters who elect to participate by a traditional dial-up phone call will be in a listen-only mode for the Q&A period and can pose questions after the fact. The Q&A period will be reserved for members of the news media only.
WHY
Proposals from the White House and Congress would invest billions of dollars in subsidies for aging, uneconomical nuclear power plants. Some of the current proposals include S.2291/H.R.4024, the Zero-Emission Nuclear Power Production Credit Act of 2021, from Senator Cardin and Representative Pascrell, which would cost cost taxpayers $50 billion over the next decade. The Biden Budget contained a more modest plan to spend $10 billion on a new incentive program for struggling reactors over the coming decade. The new infrastructure bill from Senator Manchin includes a similar incentive program that would provide $6 billion through a similar credit mechanism over the next five years. The report by economist and consumer advocate, Dr. Mark Cooper, shows that subsidies for nuclear energy will undermine the ostensible of goals of President Biden’s infrastructure and climate plans.
MEDIA CONTACT:
Alex Frank at (703) 276-3264 or afrank@hastingsgroup.com
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Dr. Mark Cooper is a senior research fellow for economic analysis at the Institute for Energy and the Environment, Vermont Law School, and author of “Policy Challenges of Nuclear Reactor Construction, Cost Escalation and Crowding Out Alternatives” (2009). In 2013 he released a widely cited report identifying the 38 most at-risk reactors in the United States – correctly predicting many of the recent nuclear plant closures of the past decade. Dr. Cooper holds a PhD from Yale University and is a former Yale University and Fulbright Fellow. He has provided expert testimony in over 250 cases for public interest clients including Attorneys General, People’s Counsels, and citizen interveners before state and federal agencies, courts, and legislators in almost four dozen jurisdictions in the U.S. and Canada.
2018 marked the 40th anniversary of Nuclear Information & Resource Service. NIRS was founded to be the national information and networking center for citizens and environmental activists concerned about nuclear power, radioactive waste, radiation and sustainable energy issues. Visit www.nirs.org.
Friends of the Earth strives for a more healthy and just world. Friends of the Earth understand that the challenges facing our planet call for more than half measures, so we push for the reforms that are needed, not merely the ones that are politically easy. Sometimes, this involves speaking uncomfortable truths to power and demanding more than people think is possible. It’s hard work. But the pressures facing our planet and its people are too important for us to compromise.
