Opinion: Nuclear power is still too costly and too risky

Des Moines Register
11:00 PM, Jun. 9, 2011
Written by DR. MAUREEN McCUE, a University of Iowa faculty member, is Iowa coordinator of Physicians for Social Responsibility.

Carolyn Heising, professor of engineering at Iowa State University, suggested Iowa move financing new nuclear power plants forward in her opinion piece, "Nuclear Power Still a Key Player" (June 5). There are at least five reasons why Heising is wrong.

FIRST, nuclear power is still too costly to compete. The Energy Information Administration's annual outlook for 2011 reports that new wind power, new biomass plants, existing power plants that switch to co-generation, and even new coal plants are all less expensive than nuclear power.

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