Source:
ReutersEuropean Expert: U.S. Policymakers Are 'As Wrong As They Can Be' About The
French Experience With Nuclear Power
Marignac Says "Far From Being a Model, France Should be a Powerful Cautionary
Tale for the U.S. about the Folly of a Headlong Rush into More Nuclear Power"
WASHINGTON, Sept. 15 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- U.S. policy makers are in the
grips of "dangerous and costly illusions" if they think that France is a model
showing how nuclear power could be implemented aggressively in the United
States, according to Yves Marignac, a leading international consultant on
nuclear energy issues and the executive director of the energy information
agency WISE-Paris.
In visits this week with state and federal officials, Marignac is debunking
the myth of the so-called "French nuclear model" that is being touted as a
blueprint for the revival of the embattled nuclear power industry in the U.S.
His visit comes at a particular key time, as the U.S. Senate considers
additional subsidies to the nuclear industry in its version of pending climate
legislation and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) seeks public comment on
weakening the rules for loan-guarantee bailouts of proposed new reactors.
Yves Marignac said: "I am at a loss to understand how the United States could
be so far off the mark in its understanding of the French experience with
nuclear power. The so-called 'success story' of the French nuclear program,
which is being promoted so assiduously by the U.S. nuclear industry, is a
complete disconnect with the stark reality of the 50-year history of rising
costs, steadily worsening delays, technological dead-ends, failed industrial
challenges and planning mistakes. The United States could make few worse
mistakes than embracing France's sorry nuclear legacy. If American
policymakers are going to weigh the example of France, they need to get the
facts instead of settling for the fantasy being sold to them by the US nuclear
industry."
In his remarks today, Marignac noted the following key problems:
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