Members of Nuclear Watchdog and several other groups opposed to expansion of nuclear energy protested Thursday in Library Mall against the re-licensing of two nuclear reactors currently operating at Point Beach Nuclear Power Station in Wisconsin.
If the Nuclear Regulatory Commission decides to re-license the Point Beach reactors, they will continue to operate for another 20 years.
Alfred Meyer, executive director of the Madison chapter of Physicians for Social Responsibility, said this re-licensing will be dangerous to Wisconsin and needs to be prevented.
\The Point Beach reactors are the fifth and 10th oldest in the nation with one of the worst, if not the worst, safety records,"" Meyer said.
According to Meyer, within the last four years the NRC has issued only five ""red"" findings throughout the nation, which is the worst rating of a power plant's safety record. Two of these findings were at Point Beach.
But UW-Madison professor of industrial and nuclear engineering Vikki Bier previously said a nuclear disaster is much less likely to occur than everyday risks like air pollution or traffic accidents. In perspective, its negative affects are likely to be minimal in comparison, she said.
Meyer also said Assembly Bill 555 is attempting to remove two existing statutes that ensure a place for nuclear waste to be deposited. He also added nuclear power plants must be economically advantageous for the rate payer. He said if AB 555 is passed, it will allow for a second reactor to be built at the Wisconsin Kewaunee plant, which will not even be covered by any Wisconsin regulation, because a Virginia corporation owns the plant.
""So we pay to build it, we pay to run it, we have no regulatory authority because it's all at the federal level, and the profit goes to an out of state corporation,"" Meyer said. ""Now you tell me how that's good for Wisconsin.""
According to UW-Madison Medical School Physician Jeff Patterson, no amount of nuclear power is safe. He said he believes radiation is ""the forever pollution"" because its presence goes undetected and lasts for thousands of years.
""So our children, grandchildren and generations to come are going to deal with this hell on earth because it is indeed that,"" Patterson said.
Veterans for Peace member Cy Griffif said people need to start consuming less energy.
""If a drug gives you a sense of euphoria, then the more you have the more you want,"" Griffif said. ""The biggest drug worldwide is electricity-everybody's hooked on it.\
