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NEI’s VP Alex Flint Debated Beyond Nuclear’s Kevin Kamps on C-SPAN

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This morning NEI’s VP Alex Flint debated Kevin Kamps (pdf) from Beyond Nuclear for about 45 minutes.

Besides disagreeing with every issue Mr. Kamps raised, I have to say he was quite smooth with his responses and did an effective job at making his case. But as Mr. Flint pointed out at 42:50, many of Mr. Kamps’ claims were “irresponsible fear mongering.”

Among the topics discussed were CBO’s debunked 50 percent default rate which is not based on past industry experience, Vermont Yankee’s tritium situation, and how loan guarantees reduce the cost of electricity to the consumer (pdf). Enjoy!

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Comments

Carletes said…
makes me sick to see the same old BS coming out of kamps' mouth. Markajani study? Amory Lovins? Can't believe he keeps reinforcing the 50% default rate. Not even restaurants default that much.
February 17, 2010 at 1:21 PM
Tom said…
I'm wondering why NEI doesn't emphasize the importance of baseload power. To me, the most important thing is that when I flip the switch, the light in my house (or my computer, which I used to do work) turns on.

To me, that's something important that any energy policy has to preserve.
February 17, 2010 at 1:51 PM
Anonymous said…
why NEI doesn't emphasize the importance of baseload power

Because "baseload" is a bisyllabic word, which is one more syllable than the average voter can handle.
February 17, 2010 at 2:03 PM
DocForesight said…
@Anon - Here's a simple solution to that problem:

break the word in two, thus:

base ... load.

See? Single syllables.
February 17, 2010 at 2:25 PM
Phil Hamm said…
"I feel like I'm arguing with somebody who says that we can't put men on the moon". CLASSIC!!!! HA HA HA HA!! SO TRUE!

"That's irresponsible fear mongering." Good for you!!!!!
February 18, 2010 at 11:07 AM
T-Squared said…
Alex did a fantastic job! He was cool, calm and measured, providing factual responses to the concerns brought up.

Had I been in Alex's shoes, I would have lost my patience with Kevin Kamps, reached over the desk, grabbed him by the his lapels, looked him straight in the eye and said: "Why can't you get it through your thick skull that the waste problem isn't spent nuclear fuel its the billions of tons of CO2 emissions being spewed out every year through human activity and your pathetic wind farms just aren't going to cut it."

Kevin would do well to read David McKay's book "Sustainable Energy -- Without the Hot Air". I am sure if he did he would stop trying to flog Arjun Makhijani's fluff piece on carbon-free energy. David MacKay incidentally is the UK's Chief Scientific Advisor to the Department of Energy and Climate Change and, as one would expect from someone in his position, he has a pretty good handle on the capabilities of renewables and their drawbacks. He has concluded, if we want to beat climate change, we need a good dollop of nuclear energy.
February 19, 2010 at 2:33 AM
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