Nuclear Energy:
No more dangerous power and toxic waste

Nuclear power generation is unnecessarily risky and expensive when the technology exists for cleaner, safer, and less costly ways to generate electricity. Clean Wisconsin has long opposed nuclear power because of the high risks to public health and the environment.

Since 1983 no new nuclear power plants have been constructed in the United States because after the accident at Three Mile Island, the public realized that this form of energy generation was simply too risky. Wisconsin has had a law (Wisconsin Nuclear Moratorium Law) in place for over twenty years that places reasonable restrictions on the construction of new nuclear plants. The law states that the Public Service Commission (PSC) cannot approve construction of a new nuclear plant unless two prerequisites are met:

1. A new nuclear power plant must be economically advantageous to ratepayers, and
2. A federally licensed permanent site for the storage of high-level radioactive waste must exist.

In recent years, there has been a push to repeal this law in order to make it easier for new nuclear plants to be built in Wisconsin. Clean Wisconsin is fighting to keep the law in place.

Clean Wisconsin has also fought to keep Wisconsin from becoming home to a large-scale nuclear waste dump. Wisconsin's Wolf River batholith, a geological feature covering 5,800 square miles in northeastern Wisconsin, was identified by the Department of Energy as first in line to become a permanent nuclear waste dump for nuclear plants east of the Mississippi River. Waste from around the country would be transported through Wisconsin to the batholith. Clean Wisconsin will continue to guard against Wisconsin becoming a radioactive waste dump.