St. Louis Post Dispatch: Heavy subsidies mask true costs of non-nuclear energy sources
First of all, other than the direct result of the tsunami, no one died at Fukushima due to radiation and certainly no one will. In the dramatic ending to your editorial (“Shared ‘pain of responsibility’ is key to nuclear future,” March 11), the Post-Dispatch completely missed that point.
You are correct that all costs need to be included in considering nuclear power and they generally are. A tax on nuclear electricity was paying for the Yucca Mountain disposal site and, if it were not for politics, it would be getting ready to dispose of used fuel today. Another tax covers decommissioning.
Unfortunately, your analysis did not extend to alternative energy or fossil fuels. The heavy subsidies paid by our taxes to wind and solar, for example, mask the true cost of those sources.
