By Kevin McCauley
Caplan Communications is handling Physicians for Social Responsibility's call for the Obama administration to backtrack from its pro-nuclear energy stance in wake of the disaster in Japan.
PSR wants the White House to back away from granting loan guarantees and subsidies for new reactors.
In February, the Dept of Energy granted $8.3B in loan guarantees for two reactors to be built in Burke, Ga. They will be the first new nuke plants to break ground in the U.S. in 30 years. At that time, President Obama pitched the plants as a way to meet the country’s growing energy needs and to reduce global warming gases.
The 50-year-old physicians group says the only way to avoid nuclear accidents like the one in Japan is to stop building reactors.
PSR, which shared a Nobel Peace Prize in 1985 with the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War for their efforts to end the nuclear arms race, maintains that no level of radiation is safe.
PSR also calls for the Administration to suspend operations of U.S. reactors with similar designs to the stricken Japanese ones and those situated on fault lines until a safety review has been completed.
“The crisis in Japan proves that clean renewable energy is the safest, most sustainable and viable solution to meet our energy needs,” said PSR spokesperson Ira Helfand.
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