Activist encourages opposition to nukes

MOUNT PLEASANT -- A Green Party founder and candidate was among a group of activists who came to town Saturday to take a stand against nuclear power and promote cleaner, renewable forms of energy.

Howie Hawkins, who also co-founded the anti-nuclear Clamshell Alliance, was the featured speaker at a "No Nukes Tour: Organize the South!" stop at the county library branch in town. He also joined activists at a gathering at the College of Charleston earlier in the day.

The tour, which started in Raleigh on Monday, touted the financial and environmental risks of nuclear power and aimed to galvanize opposition to plant expansion plans in the region, including two projects in South Carolina. Organizers said they focused on the South because 30 of 33 new projects before the Nuclear Regulatory Commission are located in the region.

Hawkins said the nuclear industry is financially dependent on costly government subsidies. Nuclear power also carries grave health and environmental risks, as evidenced by the 1986 Chernobyl disaster and the crisis at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant in Japan following a March 11 earthquake and tsunami, he said.

"It's an assault on our wealth and an assault on our health," he said.

Industry officials insist nuclear power remains a safe, viable energy source. They also contend that South Carolina's plants are safer and better designed than Japanese plants, lessening the odds of catastrophe.

But Larry Carter Center, executive director of the Charleston County Green Party, said the nation would be better off focusing on solar and wind power, and other "green" sources of energy.