************************ GREENPEACE PRESS RELEASE ************************

Greenpeace Report Exposes True Costs Of Commercial Nuclear Power:
Half-A-Trillion Dollars Sunk, $97 Billion Out Of Public Coffers

SUMMARY:

During the period from 1950 to 1990, commercial nuclear generation cost an average of 9.0 cents/kWh (1990 dollars), far more than other readily available fuels ... without even counting artificially low insurance costs or such liabilities as radiation health effects and accidents or the almost certain escalation in future waste storage and decommissioning costs.

    -- 1992 Greenpeace study

END OF SUMMARY

Washington, 15 December, 1992 (GP) -- Greenpeace, in conjunction with Komanoff Energy Associates (KEA), today released the first definitive study of the accumulated costs of nuclear power in the United States from 1950 through 1990.

Two years in production, the ground-breaking Fiscal Fission: The Economic Failure of Nuclear Power writes the bottom line for the massive government, industry and ratepayer investment in commercial reactors. The report is coauthored by Charles Komanoff and Cora Roelofs, leading energy-costing experts. Fiscal Fission shows that commercial atomic power has thus far cost $492 billion dollars, $97 billion of which in the form of federal subsidies.

"Fiscal Fission is the first full-scale compilation of taxpayer subsidies and utility investments in commercial reactor technology," said Peter Grinspoon, Director of Greenpeace's Nuclear Power Campaign. "Taxpayers and ratepayers have pumped at least half-a-trillion dollars into commercial atomic power since 1950 in exchange for a declining 8% of our national energy supply."

According to co-author Cora Roelofs, "The cost estimates in Fiscal Fission are very conservative. They take only those costs that could be fully documented and rigorously quantified. It shows that atomic-generated electricity has cost consumers an average of at least 9.0 cents a kilowatt-hour, far more than other readily available fuels."

"This report teaches us that without even counting liabilities such as accidents and waste, nuclear power has failed on economic grounds," said Grinspoon. "Nuclear power is untenably expensive and at best will play a dwindling role in the future energy economy of this country. It simply can't compete."

Komanoff and Roelofs based their work on the massive database built up by KEA over nearly two decades of studying the U.S. nuclear power industry and serving as a prime source of information on electrical generating costs. Komanoff has published three books and numerous articles in technical journals on the economic and environmental impacts of energy supply and demand. In 1980, then-governor Bill Clinton cited Komanoff as "a leading nuclear power economist ... [who] dispelled the notion of 'cheap' nuclear power."

Fiscal Fission, finds that:

  • From 1950 to 1990, U.S. taxpayers, consumers and investors spent $492 billion to develop and obtain nuclear power. This means that commercial nuclear generation during the entire period 1950-1990 cost an average of 9.0 cents/kWh (all figures are in 1990 dollars).

  • Four-fifths of this amount, $396 billion, was expended by utilities.

  • The remaining 20%, $97 billion, was spent by the federal government and, thus, borne by taxpayers.

  • The $492 billion total represents a minimum figure for resources spent on nuclear power through 1990. Excluded costs could well total $375 billion dollars in categories such as health effects of radiation, accidents, artificially low insurance costs and support for foreign reactor development -- even without counting the almost certain escalation in future waste and decommissioning costs.

  • During 1968-1990 alone, $160 billion more was spent on nuclear electric generation than would have been spent generating the same electricity with fossil fuels.

    "The money spent on nuclear power comes at the expense of the development of safe, clean sources of electricity such as solar and wind power," continued Grinspoon. "It's time to stop throwing good money after bad."

    Copies of the full report are available from the Greenpeace office, 1436 U St., NW, Washington, DC 20009.

    For More Information:
    Peter Grinspoon, Jeanne Whalen (Greenpeace): 202/462-1177, 202/319-2517
    Harvey Wasserman (Greenpeace): 614/231-0507
    Cora Roelofs, Charles Komanoff (Komanoff Energy Associates): 212/334-9767

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