Prominent environmental organization Friends of the Earth has already made clear its opposition to the Obama Administration's support for the nuclear industry, which it is calling a "preemptive bailout." Now, the group has started running eerie TV ads against plans for new nuclear reactors in two southern states.
"Even if nuclear reactors weren't top terrorist targets," asks one, "even if radioactive waste didn't remain deadly for ten thousand years, even if you wouldn't mind radioactive waste passing through your town - how would you feel about exposing your family to a potential radiation accident?"
The ads are running in Georgia, where the Obama Administration's loan guarantees have enabled construction of the first new nuclear reactors in the US in 30 years, and in South Carolina, where Friends of the Earth is challenging additional planned new reactors in the state Supreme Court.
In a statement released last week, Friends of the Earth President Erich Pica said:
Yesterday's vote by the Vermont Senate to close a radiation-leaking reactor shows what deep trouble the nuclear industry is in. Nuclear reactors and their radioactive waste are inherently dangerous. They also pose a huge bailout risk for taxpayers. The ads we're launching today make this case. Most Americans don't want these reactors in their back yards. The future lies in clean energy sources like wind and solar - not nuclear reactors.
Sara Barczak, of the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy in Georgia, added:
These ads reflect people's anxiety about the safety of nuclear reactors and the disapproval they feel about having their hard-earned money spent on something they clearly think is a bad idea, especially when safer, more affordable, less risky energy choices exist such as efficiency, wind, solar, and bioenergy.
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