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Public Citizen | Cost - Cost

Cost

Despite its promise more than 50 years ago of energy “too cheap to meter,” the nuclear power industry continues to be dependent on taxpayer handouts to survive. Since its inception in 1948, this industry has received tens of billions of dollars in federal subsidies but remains unable to compete economically on its own. On August 8, 2005, President Bush signed an energy bill that included over $13 billion in tax breaks and subsidies, as well as other incentives, for the nuclear industry. Public Citizen opposes giving money to a mature industry that is pollutive and unsustainable, and that will fail to fundamentally address climate change and environmental degradation.

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