A Bad Plan

Yesterday John McCain announced his ill-advised and dangerous idea for increasing American energy independence by opening 45 new nuclear reactor energy plants over the next 22 years.

Nuclear energy poses incredible risks to the communities that house them – everything from radioactive material seeping into the ground, to contaminating water sources, to widespread and devastating human health concerns. McCain’s plan seems to be not fully thought-out when dealing with the really serious problems facing it. When questioned about disposing with nuclear waste, he clearly had no strategy, saying only (from the AP):

We will need to solve complex problems of moving and storing materials that will always need safeguarding.

He also failed to address the huge price tag of the new plants. Critics are quick to point out the probable need for major subsidies for these plants. From the New York Times: 

“Wall Street won’t invest in these plants because they are too expensive and unreliable, so Senator McCain wants to shower the nuclear industry with billions of dollars of taxpayer handouts,” said Daniel J. Weiss, who heads the global warming program at the Center for American Progress Action Fund, a liberal research group.

Expensive and dangerous, two adjectives that shouldn’t be associated together with America’s energy plan.