{"id":2717,"date":"2020-12-17T15:32:48","date_gmt":"2020-12-17T15:32:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiofree.org\/?p=140455"},"modified":"2020-12-17T15:32:48","modified_gmt":"2020-12-17T15:32:48","slug":"proposed-ohio-nuclear-power-experiment-legislation-assailed-by-108-safe-energy-and-environmental-groups","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2020\/12\/17\/proposed-ohio-nuclear-power-experiment-legislation-assailed-by-108-safe-energy-and-environmental-groups\/","title":{"rendered":"Proposed Ohio Nuclear Power Experiment Legislation Assailed by 108 Safe Energy and Environmental Groups"},"content":{"rendered":"
WASHINGTON – On December 16, 2020, 108 local, regional and national environmental, public health and safe energy organizations blasted proposed House Bill 104, the \u201cAdvanced Nuclear Technology Helping Energize Mankind Act\u201d (\u201cANTHEM Act\u201d) pending in the Ohio General Assembly. Calling the proposal a \u201cradioactive taxpayer giveaway,\u201d the groups, representing hundreds of thousands of people, filed written testimony<\/a> for a December 17 Senate Energy and Public Utilities Committee hearing along with a one-page overview with 10 reasons to oppose HB 104<\/a>. The activists warn that building state-sponsored small modular nuclear power reactors (SMRs) \u201cwill break the bank and destroy Ohio\u2019s chances for a clean and safe energy future” especially given COVID-related budgetary constraints and that ANTHEM could cause nuclear weapons proliferation, threats to public health and safety, radioactive contamination, and require huge, undetailed governmental subsidies. <\/p>\n House Bill (\u201cHB\u201d) 104 is being pushed by eGeneration Foundation, a Cleveland company that envisions thorium and molten-salt nuclear power reactors, which have never gotten beyond small-scale experiments and show few prospects of commercial success. The company will not say where it would build several full-scale SMRs. There are no provisions for community or public involvement in the creation of an Ohio Nuclear Development Authority (NDA) to issue taxpayer-backed bonds for reactor construction. The NDA would be governed by a board of nuclear industry insiders within the Ohio Department of Commerce.The proposed Nuclear Development Authority within the Ohio Department of Commerce would mean that nuclear promotion, not regulation of health and safety, would be the top priority, and that Ohio taxpayers would be liable for cleanup and dismantling when reactors close \u2013 or worse, after spills and accidents. The bill also allows for eminent domain.<\/p>\n