So here's something that's somewhat obvious to those working in the nuclear industry... with the exception of a few companies like Exelon and Areva the VAST VAST majority of companies that operate nuclear plants also operate a LARGE number of coal fired plants.
The PR arm of the nuclear industry is the NEI... they receive their funding from members like Duke Energy.
http://www.nei.org/CorporateSite/media/filefolder/NEI-Membership-Roster.pdf?ext=.pdf
Duke Energy operates over 20 coal-fired power plants. Duke Energy has absolutely no interest in seeing legislation that would hurt its coal fleet and NEI has no interest in losing funding.
I asked a lobbyist for the company I work for several years ago why the NEI was silent on Cap-and-trade since passage of that legislation would be of enormous benefit to the nuclear industry. Anyone want to guess what I was told?
Sure, the NEI will talk up the advantages of nuclear power but they will NEVER explicitly compare it to coal; they will NEVER pursue anti-carbon legislation;
Despite the fact that the nuclear industry does produce clean power it is chalk full of AGW deniers. ~90%+ of my co-workers explicitly deny Global Warming. You can't think of the nuclear industry in the same way as wind/solar. It's part of the utility sector, it has absolutely no desire to displace coal, absolutely no desire to reduce CO2 emissions.
I would LOVE to see evidence of that... since from everything I've seen, the coal and nuclear industries are VERY close friends...
The PR arm of the nuclear industry is the NEI... they receive their funding from members like Duke Energy.
http://www.nei.org/CorporateSite/media/filefolder/NEI-Membership-Roster.pdf?ext=.pdf
Duke Energy operates over 20 coal-fired power plants. Duke Energy has absolutely no interest in seeing legislation that would hurt its coal fleet and NEI has no interest in losing funding.
I asked a lobbyist for the company I work for several years ago why the NEI was silent on Cap-and-trade since passage of that legislation would be of enormous benefit to the nuclear industry. Anyone want to guess what I was told?
Sure, the NEI will talk up the advantages of nuclear power but they will NEVER explicitly compare it to coal; they will NEVER pursue anti-carbon legislation;
Despite the fact that the nuclear industry does produce clean power it is chalk full of AGW deniers. ~90%+ of my co-workers explicitly deny Global Warming. You can't think of the nuclear industry in the same way as wind/solar. It's part of the utility sector, it has absolutely no desire to displace coal, absolutely no desire to reduce CO2 emissions.
Some in the pro nuclear side have stated repeatedly that it really looks like green peace and others have taken coal affiliated money to go attack other environmental interests and leave coal alone.
I would LOVE to see evidence of that... since from everything I've seen, the coal and nuclear industries are VERY close friends...
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