Cheney to Promote American-Made Nuclear Reactors to China

[NNN0LHI]

http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGAVX0CTUSD.html

WASHINGTON (AP) - On a trip to China next week to talk about high-stakes issues like terrorism and North Korea, Vice President Dick Cheney will have another task - making a pitch for Westinghouse's U.S. nuclear power technology.

At stake could be billions of dollars in business in coming years and thousands of American jobs. The initial installment of four reactors, costing $1.5 billion apiece, would also help narrow the huge U.S. trade deficit with China.

China's latest economic plan anticipates more than doubling its electricity output by 2020 and the Chinese government, facing enormous air pollution problems, is looking to shift some of that away from coal-burning plants. Its plan calls for building as many as 32 large 1,000-megawatt reactors over the next 16 years.

No one has ordered a new nuclear power reactor in the United States in three decades and the next one, if it comes, is still years away. So, China is being viewed by the U.S. industry as a potential bonanza.

more

[arcane1]

1. u-oh, rubbing elbows with the Red Chinese..

careful Dick, the freepers don't like it when politicians cozy up to China. They end up being called communist traitors, etc

wait, what am I saying? They only say that about Democratic politicians...

silly me

[wuushew]

2. Why would the Chinese be interested in American reactors?

Have we even built any since the 1970's? If I were China I would be talking to more qualified countries like France or Japan. Then again the weak dollar might make Cheney's deal all the sweeter.

[Whoa_Nelly]

37. Take a look at TruthOut.org re: US based Westinghouse

This is just more dirty business by the venal and avaricious Cheney.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_02/05.22B.NRDC.Cheney.htm

Data Shows Industry Had Extensive Access to Cheney's Energy Task Force
Industry Outnumbered Non-Industry Contacts 25 to 1

Tuesday, 20 May, 2002

WASHINGTON | A close examination of more than 12,000 pages of documents provided by the Energy Department confirms that energy industry lobbyists enjoyed extraordinary access to Vice President Cheney's energy task force. NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council) has finally compiled from Energy Department documents a comprehensive, quantitative analysis of outside contacts during formulation of the Bush administration's national energy plan. (See attached Excel spreadsheet.)

During the course of its operation - from January to September of 2001 - the energy task force received input from hundreds of corporations, organizations and individuals. The data, which validates NRDC's preliminary assessment that industry had the most access, shows that industry representatives had 714 direct contacts while non-industry representatives had only 29. NRDC could not definitively categorize another 105 direct contacts.

<snip>
Westinghouse had contact with the task force nine times. (Westinghouse Electric Company has contributed $65,060 to Republican candidates and the GOP from 1999 to 2002.)

[Whoa_Nelly]

38. ...and more re: Cheney-Westinghouse connection

(NOTE: Have used the html link to be able to snip from this article. It's actually a .pdf file that can be accessed through the link at the the top of the web page.)

http://216.239.53.104/search?q=cache:UDdL_CLnIX8J:www.reachingcriticalwill.org/corporate/dd/DDpdf/bnfl.pdf+cheney+westinghouse&hl=en&ie=UTF-8

<snip>
COMPANY HISTORY AND PRODUCTS
In 1971, BNFL was formed as a spin off of the British
g o v e r n m e n t ’s Atomic Energy A u t h o r i t y. But the UK
government remains a 100% shareholder of BNFL. The
company is active in every aspect of the nuclear industry,
and controls 12% of the world’s nuclear activity.
BNFL operates in 15 countries and employs more than
23,000 people. The company’s revenue totaled about $2.5
billion in 2001. In 1998 BNFL merged with Magnox Electric
Company and in 1999 purchased the nuclear business of
Westinghouse Electric Company. Nearly 50% of the
nuclear power plants in operation worldwide and nearly
60% in the United States are based on Westinghouse
technology, owned by BNFL.

THE DIRT THEY MAKE
The company:
Buys, manufactures and manages the processing of
uranium into fuel, known as Mixed Oxide (MOX) fuel.
Operates the largest international transport network of
nuclear materials including MOX on ships, trains and
motorized vehicles.
Provides reprocessing of nuclear fuel and manages
spent fuel and waste.
Builds and services nuclear reactors, both pressurized
water reactors and boiling water reactors.
Decommissions nuclear power plants, approximately
50 since 1988.

BNFL BUSINESS:
Sellafield (UK): Sellafield’s chief activity is
reprocessing spent nuclear fuel for use in domestic
nuclear power plants and to overseas customers like
Japan and Germany. While the BNFL web-site boasts that
radioactive discharge from Sellafield is now less than 1%
of peak levels in the 1970s, the location is still known as
the "nuclear dustbin" of Europe.
BNFL Inc.: Established in 1990, BNFL Inc. is a full
service nuclear waste management company, decom-
missioning, engineering, and handling nuclear materials. It
handles the U.S. Department of Energy’s Hanford, Idaho,
Oak Ridge, Rocky Flats, and Savannah River Sites. BNFL
Inc. has its headquarters in Fairfax, Virginia.
Westinghouse Electric Company: In 1999 BNFL
acquired the commercial nuclear power businesses of
CBS, now known as the Westinghouse Electric Company.

<snip>
But it looks like BNFL might bounce back from hardships of
the past. The Cheney Bush energy plan puts nuclear energy
squarely in the forefront and BNFL is well positioned to take
advantage of the White House’s pro-nuclear stance. Also
playing in BNFL’s favor are its political connections. James
S c h l e s i n g e r, who was the United States’ first Energy
Secretary, director of the Central Intelligence Agency under
Nixon and Defense Secretary under President Ford, sits on
BNFL’s Board of Directors.

[DS1]

3. uhh. nuclear secrets to China? Have I heard about this before?

:eyes:

[daleo]

4. I am surprised he's not selling them to North Korea

Halliburton could make a few bucks.

[jpak]

5. Will the Chinese have custody of the spent fuel????

Will they reprocess it to produce plutonium???

Will they use this plutonium for "peaceful" purposes...

...or for evil????

[The Land of the Free]

6. Didn't he learn from Clinton

What a horrible idea, no matter the economic benefits! Who wants a job if it gives China an even easier path to nuclear proliferation.

[wuushew]

7. China is already a nuclear power

They have had the bomb since the 1960's I don't see your point on proliferation. They are members of the IAEA.

[The Land of the Free]

10. I know

But it would make it easier to produce more no?

[seventhson]

8. Halliburton makes Nuclear reactors - He is really selling WW IV

That is what it will be when totalitatians in league with Bush/Cheney decide that we have too many freedoms here in America and pose a threat to Chinese and Corporo-Fascist totalitarian culture

[DODI]

18. Under what name does Halliburton make reactors?

I know GE does and Westinghouse but Halliburton?

[seventhson]

31. Kellogg Brown and Root -- they do the engineering

http://earthrunner.com/4winds/lowlevel_laws.html

that's just one source -scro;; to the bottom. Google has many, but this is a good article too

[PfcHammer]

20. don't leave out beloved bechtel n/t

[aquart]

9. Anything for a buck, Dick.

Maybe he's hoping that cheap nuke power will make them stop driving up oil prices.

Unlikely.

[TreasonousBastard]

11. If we can still build them.

Westinghouse was once one of the world's major powerplant builders, and built some of the best engineered and safest around. They're still running all over Europe, Asia, and South America. Been out of the business for years, though.

Yeah, nukes have had a bad rap over the years, but the story isn't quite that simple and they still have great potential use. Trading reactors for stuff to fill Wal-Mart isn't an enitirely bad idea.

[seventhson]

14. I guess we'd be happy if our walmart products were tainted with radiation

this is a serious problem. Chinese waste products ARE ending up in toys and kitchenware.

It is happening in the US too.

I think you are dead wrong about this

[TreasonousBastard]

22. Radioactive waste products have always...

ended up in consumer products. Concrete is one of the worst offenders, and the radon gas from it has killed quite a few people so far. Now, they're not using uranium tailings for concrete, but they are using excess DU that the military doesn't need.

There's been uranium in false teeth and crowns to make them look real.

However, what we're talking about here is management, not intrinsic risk. Two reactors have blown in all the years they've been running, and both of them were due almost entirely to bad management screwing things up saving money. Both of those reactors were built using similar designs that are known to be prone to potential problems if you don't watch them, and designs like that can be avoided.

Radioactive waste in the product stream is another management question. With or without us selling nuke plants to China, they have nuclear power and will get more. Controlling the radiation in products is the key, not putting the genie back in the bottle. Our own manufacturers are not averse to using cheap materials even if they are slightly radioactive and they are not prohibited from using them.

Having worked with nuclear engineers over the years, I'm not convinced of any intrinsic risk of nuclear power, but do agree that there are problems. The primary one is that operators must be held to higher standards, and the possible inability to control inept operators may be the one reason to avoid nuke plants.

Other than that, background radiation that we are all exposed to is much higher than anything the properly run plants produce-- even in their waste. Burning stuff, like wood, peat, coal, oil, and gas produces far more health and environmental problems than nukes have known to produce. The waste problem is a serious one, but it has been shown to be manageable, even if we don't bury it in caves. Fuel manufacturing has also been a problem, and it's been the Energy Dept. causing much of the problems. Saving money again.

Other energy forms, like hydro, wind, etc., have a place, but just can't produce the amount of electricity the world is going to need in the future at the current state of the art. Hydro, in particular, is pretty much maxed out, and building huge new dams is in no one's interest. the Chinese Three Rivers dam has already caused a world outcry and we won't see more projects like that.

[DODI]

19. Westinghouse is still building reactors.

They are still in the business. They have many plants they service in the US and now also own the former CE Nuclear, a former major player in the market. There are currently plans for at least 3 new US reactors.

[TreasonousBastard]

23. A different Westinghouse?

I remember they sold the business years ago and eventually became an entertainment company, getting out of heavy industry entirely. But, yes, somebody has to service the plants they built.

Could be when they spun it off the new owners kept the Westinghouse name. I just hope they run the company the way the old-timers did.

[DODI]

24. Westinghouse, old time was split up

Westinghouse Nuclear retained the Westinghouse name and is based out of Pittsburgh. It is now part of BNFL, but rumours exist that it could be sold to GE that horrid privately owned company, I can't think of the name -- an engineering company -- HELP!

Many old timers are still around -- very few newbies going into the nuclear industry.

[seventhson]

12. I Honestly believe they WANT us to get sick and die from radioactive waste

The reality is that nuclear power is too dangerous and expensive for it to make ANY sense at all. If it is subsidized by the government, however, and the taxpayers foot the bill while paying the medical bills for the sicknesses the waste and effluents causes, then these madmen can make a profit while we die.

It is eugenics without fences.

Nuke plants cause an increase in the death rate (and especially the infant mortality rate and rate of spontaneous abortions) in the vicinity of the plants.

It is Malthusian Necrophilia: I.E. these bastards lust after this power of life and death and the ability to kill.

The more they kill or "disrupt" global population via abortions and infant deaths of the poorest and weakest and most powerless -- and the death of the elderly and frail and prone to cancer -- the easier it is for them to control us all.

If we are sick we casnnot resist.

So the Bushes and Cheney and the Bastard Chinese Fascists are a perfect match. They control their slave population and continue toi make profits while reducing their population and maintaining their absolute power while crushing the people and the will to bring about democracy.

WWW.Radiation.org has the details on what nuke plants are doing to us.

I am sure the Chinese would love to have more to fill their pockets and keep their people ill and powerless - while cutting the Bushes and Cheney in on the profits and the thrill of the production of mass death.

[wuushew]

17. Feel free to give up fossil fuels as well

Since the harm caused to our planet is many times greater than any nuclear risk.

If magically we some how shifted to Green power, the net deficit in power would lead to a rapid die off of the excess population.

[Tellurian]

33. The "US" is the Entire Middle Class...

in case you haven't figured it out yet.

[NickB79]

36. China is already one of the most polluted countries in the world

Due to burning COAL and OIL, not nuclear reactor usage. The (much-debated-here) increased deaths around nuclear reactors pales in comparison to the hundreds of thousands that die here in the US and in China annually from fossil fuel air pollution. If anything can be called "eugenics without borders", air pollution is FAR worse than nuclear radiation leaks. The Chinese can hardly get much worse replacing some of those coal-fired plants with nuclear ones.

[suegeo]

13. Cheney's business trip

Why do I get the feeling that the ONLY reason Snarling Dick is travelling there is to shake down the Chinese for the BFEE?

In addition to reactors, he is also gonna strong arm the Chinese about wireless products.

Cheney to Visit China, Address Wireless Trade Spat
U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney is getting ready to visit Chinese
officials to speak about the war in Iraq as well as economic and
trade issues. The visit comes as the U.S. government presses China
to modify regulations that would restrict imports of wireless
computers and other hi-tech products containing Wi-Fi technology in
an apparent violation of world trade rules. --Reuters--

This news article overview is from an industry newsletter that I get re: Wireless Communications news. I looked for the story on Reuters, but it must be over a day old. So, no link...

[AlCzervik]

15. Maybe we have pictures

of China in compromising positions with farm animals?

[Democat]

16. Is there a Free Republic thread about this? After all the Clinton threads?

Dick Cheney is helping the "Red Chinese" get nuclear parts. What do the Freepers think?

Remember the Clinton years?

[sam sarrha]

21. it is a bribe to get china to stop the N. Koreans from nuking the S. Korea

in the next ten minutes.. probably an extortion the Chinese and N. Koreans cooked up to get the reactors..

And i bet the Corporations will pay no taxes on the sale... 60% of corporation's pay...NO INCOME TAXES... and before the tax cuts the average tax paid was...5%.. boy they needed that tax cut !!!

[Malva Zebrina]

25. Cheney is not interested and has never been interested in this country

His focus is on making money for himself or his business buddies.

He realizes his unique position here, replete with power. HE understands that business is what makes him a billionaire and gives him power.

He could give a shit about this country,or it's consition, or the people who live in it.

Cheny is the quintessential CEO--and to him the bottm line is the making of the personal money--the bottom line means being a conservative, where all the energy and all the money is directed toward corporate business and it's profits and the social suffereing of the people gets no attention at all.

They, in this evil administration, care only about themself and what they can emerge with from this. They may not be elected again, but I am certain they will leave with an enormous amount of wealth they have and will accumulate as a result of thier "public service"

Our country is broken

[PfcHammer]

26. not necessarily so. paul o'neill may be an exception, but

from what I have gathered, he was alcoa ceo and was a decent
person too. prolly why BushCo buried him in concrete
and we haven't heard from him

[Malva Zebrina]

29. I am currently half way through Suskind's book

but, in spite of O'Neils tendency to buck Bush and Cheny and go against the tide in order to sustain his own convictions, he did, however, refuse to give up his Alcoa holdings although it would seemas though hanging on to those holding were a conflict of interest. Did he ever relinquish those Alcoa holdings?

[Cocoa]

28. he's not even a real CEO

He had zero private sector experience when he got that job, he's just a guy that trades his political influence for cash. I wonder what he's getting from Westinghouse.

[readmylips]

27. Cheney, the killing machine....

I'd rather see him sell Girl Scout Cookies.

[Bozvotros]

30. This should warm the pro-lifer's hearts

Maybe we should all write a LTTE about how Good Godly Cheney is selling reactors to the evil Chinee who have nationalized abortion and eugenics. Maybe we should remind those good Christians that while those fetuses are ground into rice paddy fertilizer, Unca Prescott Bush is the proud head of the Sino-US Chamber of Commerce. Maybe we could also point out that while poor women in Sierra Leone can't have prenatal care because they might hear about birth control, the abortion crazy Red Chinese can have all the nuclear reactors they can buy. We can also remind them of Rummy's nuclear profiteering with North Korea.

Get those LTTEs on Sunday morning and I bet we see heads exploding in churces this Easter.

Praise the Lord and pass the uranium....

[JohnOneillsMemory]

40. Exellent post. Send it to your local newspapers. n/t

[MetaTrope]

32. Does this mean we'll have to rename "The China Syndrome"?

:shrug:

[WinningDoubt]

35. The China Syndrome was a joke

Everyone know that a meltdown would stop in the center of the earth. It is common knowledge that everything is "up" from the center of the earth and a meltdown would have to become a meltup to get to China. So there!

[spanone]

34. This man is totally shameless. A true hack.

Someday let's hope that cheney* has a few good years left to rot in some slime-filled jail cell.

[Whoa_Nelly]

39. KICK for keeping this news up front

and as to the WHY Cheney has such a vested interest in selling nuclear reactors to China.
:kick:

[goforit]

41. A !#%&ing TRAITOR to our country!!! Benedict Arnold = Cheney

What a scumbag!!!!!!!

[Chicago Democrat]

42. I like Nuclear Power

Its clean and excellent... But they need to get a handle on waste and it needs to be a top national security priority.