NEIS Board members, Gail Snyder and Jan Boudart recently attended a presentation given by Annegret Groebel the Director of International Relations at the German Regulatory Authority for Electricity, Gas, Telecommunications, Post and Railway. Of special note to us was that after the Fukushima Nuclear disaster in Japan the German government and people decided to permanently phase out all of their nuclear energy production and close all nuclear power plants, shutting down 8 reactors immediately with the phase out of the remaining 9 reactors by 2022.
While the article below leads the story with Germany’s phase out of coal what we learned is that in Germany the priority is to shutdown all their nuclear reactors. They determined the risk of a nuclear accident was to great and that all their nuclear power should be shutdown. In the U.S. and the State of Illinois where we are located many still ignore or downplay this same risk and the harm that can be caused by nuclear accidents. It is time for legislators and environmentalists in the U.S. to tell the truth to themselves and the public about these risks and stop limiting their risk evaluations only to carbon emissions. Illinois has the most operating nuclear reactors, 11 of them, of any state in the nation. Every day those 11 reactors operate the citizens of Illinois take on the burden of risk for the Exelon the company that operates them.
(Note: The article below says 19 reactors, 2 were closed prior to 2011 leaving 17 operating when the Fukushima nuclear accident occurred in 2011 when Germany decided to shutdown 8 immediately and phase out the remaining 9 by 2022.)
In Illinois Federal investigations into Exelon should be making legislators and others who have had dealing and negotiations with Exelon and their company, ComEd, question if the same old methods of making energy policy really produce the best outcome for the citizens of Illinois. We think this would be a great time for legislators to disconnect renewable energy policy from nuclear energy policy and move Illinois forward with the goal of 100% renewable energy for Illinois’ citizens. Renewable energy is a competitor to Exelon and Exelon has been and continues to be an obstructionist to the advancement of renewable energy in Illinois and other states. Lobbying efforts by Exelon and negotiations with them do not advance renewable energy, they stall it. Exelon has been very good at convincing legislators to advance renewables only in baby steps. This is why we still have such a low portfolio of renewable energy in Illinois. Will the Governor and legislators let Exelon’s crisis stall advancement of renewables again this next legislative session? We hope not.
Nuclear Energy is NOT clean!
“fossil-fuel pollution can be reversed. Nuclear waste is here to stay for hundreds of thousands of years.“