• by Dietrich Fischer
• Friday, March 18, 2011
• Inter Press Service

Why do we have nuclear power despite all of its dangers for current and future generations? There is a simple reason. Nuclear power plants are highly profitable for a few, at the expense of other people's safety. Electricity from a nuclear power station can be cut off if people do not pay their bills, but energy from the sun collected on house roofs cannot be cut off. It makes people independent. The nuclear lobby does not want that, writes Dietrich Fischer, Academic Director of the World Peace Academy,Director of the TRANSCEND University Press, author of "Nonmilitary Aspects of Security" and "Preventing War in the Nuclear Age."

It is remarkable that all insurance companies have so far refused to insure against nuclear accidents, because they argue that they do not want to risk their money based on some professor's calculations claiming the risk is low. What if he is wrong? Insurance companies insist to base their risk calculations on real experience.

Because insurance companies refuse to cover the risks of nuclear accidents, the Price- Anderson Act of 1957 commits the US federal government to cover such risks. Other countries have similar legislation. This represents an enormous subsidy by the taxpayers to the nuclear industry. If the nuclear power industry were forced by law to pay for insurance against accidents, and pay for the safe disposal of its waste, we would have no nuclear power plants.

It is true that solar energy is currently more expensive than electricity from nuclear plants. But this is partly because of the indirect subsidy for nuclear power, and the shortage of research into alternative sources of energy. If a fraction of the research funds spent for nuclear power had been devoted to safe sources like wind and solar, we would most likely have cheap alternatives today.

If insurance companies, the experts in estimating risks, are unwilling to risk their money, why should people be forced to risk their lives?

(*) Dietrich Fischer, Academic Director of the World Peace Academy and Director of the TRANSCEND University Press, is author of "Nonmilitary Aspects of Security" and "Preventing War in the Nuclear Age."

//NOT FOR PUBLICATION IN CANADA, CZECH REPUBLIC, IRELAND, POLAND, THE UNITED STATES, AND THE UNITED KINGDOM//

© Inter Press Service (2011) — All Rights Reserved. Original source: Inter Press Service

Where next?

Advertisement