For Immediate Release
March 2, 2010 Contact: Jeff Tittel, NJ Chapter Director, 609-558-9100
Sierra Club Will Oppose New Nuclear Power Plants in Salem County
The Sierra Club will oppose efforts by PSE&G to build one or two new nuclear power plants in Salem County. The company has filed preliminary papers for the proposal.
Even though this is a preliminary application, the Sierra Club is deeply concerned that these plants would be a risk to the people of New Jersey. We are also concerned that these plants will undermine efforts at developing renewable energy and take the focus off energy efficiency.
Nuclear plants are extremely expensive compared to clean energy. The plants also present numerous environmental and safety risks. "It's not green if it glows," NJ Sierra Club Director Jeff Tittel said.
These plants cannot be built without massive public subsidies that we'd be better off investing in renewable energy. "It would make more sense from both an environmental and economic perspective to put that money towards clean energy, like offshore wind," Tittel said.
Constructing new nuclear power plants is an extremely expensive undertaking. For instance, two reactors being built in Georgia will cost $14 billion. In Maryland, $20 billion is being spent for two, 750 MW reactors
The Sierra Club estimates the cost for these new plants would be between $15 and $20 billion. That same investment in offshore wind would result in more energy for less money. New Jersey could produce 3,000 MW from offshore wind for $9 billion verses $20 billion for just 1,500 MW of power generated at a nuclear plant.
New Jersey taxpayers are still paying off more than $5 billion in stranded assets for three other nuclear plants. Construction of these plants will also create more jobs overseas, since the steel will be imported from Japan and South Korea. Wind turbines are produced in the United States, creating jobs here and supporting our economy.
The plants present safety and environmental risks. There is no proper way to handle the waste, which will be around for thousands of years. Currently Salem 1 and 2 power plants operate without cooling towers, killing more than three billion fish each year.
"We're storing tons of waste already on an island in Salem County. These plants will produce even more waste. What's going to happen to future generations if tons of nuclear waste is stored on an island in the Delaware River?" Tittel said.
With four or five nuclear plants in one area - and the waste from those plants being stored above ground - we fear this region of New Jersey could become a potential target for terrorists.
"This is the wrong proposal at the wrong place and the wrong time," Tittel said.
Kara Seymour, Program Assistant NJ Sierra Club
145 W. Hanover Street Trenton, NJ 08618
609.656.7612
(f) 609.656.7618
<http://www.newjersey.sierraclub.org> www.newjersey.sierraclub.org
Received on 2010-03-02 13:20:37