Project Censored Updates

Discussion of the perils of the nuclear industry is rare enough in the mainstream media. But even less attention is paid to the U.S. funding institutions that make many of these nuclear plants possible. With virtually no oversight or public accountability, the U.S. Export-Import Bank (Ex-Im) continues to direct huge sums of taxpayer dollars toward irresponsible and inefficient projects, few of which could ever pass domestic safety standards. At the same time that the U.S. government has acquiesced to the need for cheaper, cleaner, and safer forms of energy at home, it unscrupulously peddles nuclear energy abroad to keep U.S. contractors afloat.

There have been some developments since our article originally ran. Nearly a billion dollars over budget, the Temelin plant in the Czech Republic went online on October 9, 2000. The reactor sparked massive international protests, which, on several occasions forced the closing of the Austrian-Czech border. Protests are now turning to Temelin II, a yet-unfinished second reactor at the same plant, which is scheduled for completion next year.

Antinuclear activists and members of the Austrian and Bavarian governments are vowing to block it. In Bulgaria, the Kozloduy reactors remain online. The European Union (EU) maintains that unless four of the six Kozloduy reactors are closed, Bulgaria will not be allowed entrance into the Union. The EU has also threatened to forbid Lithuania membership if it continues to postpone the shut-down of the Ignalina plant which still operates partly because of Westinghouse work and Ex-Im backing.

In Turkey, the movement to block the Akkuyu project won a stunning victory in July 2000. Stating that the project was simply too expensive and too dangerous, the Turkish government finally agreed to cancel it. Turkish president Ecevit pointed out that "the world is abandoning nuclear energy," and said that the government would instead begin focusing on conservation, natural gas, and hydroelectric, solar and wind energy.

China remains the grand prize for the U.S. nuclear industry. With U.S. -- Chinese trade relations growing closer by the day, Ex-Im will face even less difficulty in opening this market to U.S. contractors.