Government-enabled Nuclear: Trump Demures

Commercial nuclear power (fission) was a government-created industry in the 1950s that continues to hold false promise today. It is by far the most complicated, expensive, and fraught way to boil water.

President Trump seems to recognize the falsity of new nuclear capacity as the Hail Mary of the futile, false goal of “Net Zero”. As reported by E&E News:

Former President Donald Trump expressed significant reservations over American nuclear energy in his recent appearance on the “Joe Rogan Experience” podcast, a departure from other Republicans who have entirely backed the zero-carbon energy source.

Trump told Joe Rogan in an interview released Friday that he thought projects to build more of the large nuclear reactors currently on the grid, while “very clean,” have a tendency to be complex and to go over budget. He also expressed concern over the energy source’s safety implications.

“They get too big, and too complex and too expensive,” Trump said of U.S. nuclear reactors. “I think there’s a little danger in nuclear.”

Yes! Trump is on to something and not just kowtowing to the Republican Party and nuclear lobby. All nuclear subsidies should cease, and the Price Anderson Act should be repealed to allow each nuclear reactor to be evaluated for continued safe operation.

If a particular unit is not insurable on the private market, then the owner must determine whether to risk its own capital on ongoing operation. Perhaps a few of America’s 94 reactors (avg. age: 43 years) will be decommissioned in the process. That is for the market, the free market, to decide.