nuclear power
No more dangerous power and toxic waste
Nuclear power generation is unnecessarily risky and expensive. In Wisconsin, we have many cleaner, safer, and less costly ways to generate electricity. Clean Wisconsin opposes nuclear power because of the high risks to public health and the environment.
No new nuclear power plants have been constructed in the United States since 1983, four years after the accident at Three Mile Island — a near catastrophic event that raised public awareness about the high risks of nuclear power. That year also marked the passage of a landmark Wisconsin law, known as the Nuclear Moratorium Law, that places common-sense restrictions on the construction of new nuclear plants. This law states that the Public Service Commission cannot approve construction of a new nuclear plant unless two conditions are met:
- A new nuclear power plant must be economically advantageous to ratepayers, and
- A federally licensed permanent site for the storage of high-level radioactive waste must exist.
Additionally, Clean Wisconsin is also fighting 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. If this plan were approved, waste from around the country would be brought to Wisconsin to be stored in the batholith.
In recent years, there has been a push to repeal the Nuclear Moratorium Law to make it easier for new nuclear plants to be built in Wisconsin. Clean Wisconsin is fighting to keep that law in place and guarding against Wisconsin becoming a dumping ground for radioactive waste.
