March 6, 2008: Assembly Threatens Wisconsin with Risks of Nuclear Power

For Immediate Release: March 6, 2008

Assembly Threatens Wisconsin with Costs

and Risks of Nuclear Power

MADISON – The Citizens Utility Board and Clean Wisconsin would like to thank the members of the State Assembly that voted yesterday against AB 346, which would repeal Wisconsin’s “nuclear moratorium.” AB 346 passed the Assembly on a 57 to 38 vote.

AB 346 would repeal a law (Wis. Stats. 196.493) that has been on the books since 1983. The law, known as the nuclear moratorium, is a sensible law that protects ratepayers and the environment from the costs and risks of nuclear power.

The nuclear moratorium does not ban the construction of nuclear plants in Wisconsin. It simply requires that two criteria be met before the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin can authorize the construction of a nuclear plant. These two criteria are that:

1. A waste repository is available for radioactive waste created by Wisconsin reactors, and;
2. A nuclear plant is economically advantageous to ratepayers in comparison to alternatives.

Unless nuclear power can pass these simple requirements, nuclear power plants should not be built in Wisconsin.

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