Anti-Nuke Alert: Alec Baldwin to Lead Charge Against Oyster Creek Nuclear Power Plant

What Lisa warned us about last week is about to come to pass: New York-born actor Alec Baldwin will be in New Jersey tonight to moderate a symposium/rally against the Oyster Creek Nuclear Power Plant.

There's plenty more I could write about this morning, but I think I just ought to mention this: Like me, Baldwin is a native of Long Island. And as folks in the nuclear energy industry know, it was back in the 1980s that activists there that helped scuttle a perfectly good nuclear power plant -- Shoreham -- that was just about ready to accept fuel.

What was the result? How about some of the highest electricity rates in the nation, ones that squeeze the pocket books of working class families. I guess Baldwin is trying to bring that same sort of sensibility to New Jersey.

Here are some other interesting facts about nuclear energy in New Jersey -- a state that gets more than 50% of its electricity from nuclear energy -- from an NEI fact sheet:

Twenty-one of twenty-three counties in New Jersey are in non-attainment for EPA'’s new 8-hour ozone standard. Ozone contributes to smog, which can lead to asthma attacks and respiratory impairment in young children and the elderly.
The Hope Creek, Oyster Creek and Salem plants supply emission-free power to New Jersey homes and businesses, while helping to improve the air quality.

[...]

Generating electricity with nuclear energy prevents the emission of pollutants like sulfur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) and greenhouse gases like CO2 associated with burning fossil fuels. New Jersey's nuclear power plants avoided the emission of 230,000 tons of SO2, 45,600 tons of NOx and 27.3 million metric tons of CO2 in the year 2005.(Source: NEI/EPA) Emissions of SO2 lead to the formation of acid rain. NOx is a key precursor of both ground level ozone and smog. Greenhouse gases, like CO2, contribute to global warming. For perspective, the 45,600 tons of NOx avoided by nuclear power plants in New Jersey is the amount of NOx released in a year by 2.4 million passenger cars. There are 4.0 million cars registered in the state of New Jersey.

Local NA-YGN members are planning to attend the event and hand out material like this telling the other side of the story. If you want to support the effort, send an email to supportOysterCreek-at-hotmail.com.

For the rest of our archive on Oyster Creek, click here.

Technorati tags: Nuclear Energy, Environment, Energy, Politics, Technology, Economics, Alec Baldwin, New Jersey, Oyster Creek Nuclear Power Plant