Nuclear energy is the wrong choice

John McCain's plan to build 45 new reactors by 2030 demonstrates more about his connections to nuclear industry lobbyists than to any real concern about addressing climate change.

Nuclear power provides far less climate protection per dollar than any of its competitors.

The mining, uranium production, transport, use and storage of nuclear fuel (and waste) create global warming.

Nuclear reactors heat up the air and water wherever they operate.ˆ  It takes a tremendous amount of water to cool down nuclear fuel.

Radioactive releases are constant into the environment and cancer and birth defects, miscarriage, and pollution accompany standard nuclear power plant operations.

Moreover, because nuclear power is so expensive, only massive taxpayer and ratepayer subsidies would enable the construction of new atomic reactors.

Such investment would divert the resources from those solutions that really work: renewable energy, energy efficiency, cogeneration, smart grids and distributed generation are the clean, affordable means to reduce carbon emissions and meet our energy needs, not nuclear power.

Clean energy sources don't produce lethal radioactive waste, don't require massive security, don't make residents live in fear of a meltdown, and don't enable the spread of nuclear weapons.

The choice is easy. But Sen. McCain has made the wrong one.

Kathryn Barnes

Sherwood, Mich.