Remember the saying, “Too cheap to meter?” This was the slogan of the nuclear reactor industry.

However, according to S. David Freeman, nuclear plants have never been cost effective.

This is because total expenses must include billions in building cost overruns, costs of shutting down old nuclear reactors and the storage and guarding of highly dangerous nuclear wastes for thousands of years. And this is not counting environmental damage from water contamination, uranium extraction, regular radioactive venting and nuclear plant accidents.

Does the math add up that Mid-Missourians should be guinea pigs for undeveloped and untested small modular reactors (SMRs) or any size nuclear reactors to produce more nuclear waste for which there is no safe storage place on earth?

The public is invited to a free meeting on “Poison-Free Power” for a safer, sustainable energy future. S. David Freeman and Dr. John W. Rachow will speak and answer questions at 7 p.m. on Nov. 6 in Middlebush Hall on the University of Missouri campus, Columbia (corner of 9th and University Ave.).

Dr. Rachow is a chemical engineer and physician in the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine. He is the former President of Physicians for Social Responsibility and is currently Chair of PSR’s Radiation and Health Committee. Dr. Rachow will address the “Dangers of High-Level Nuclear Waste in Mid-Missouri” at Callaway and other nuclear plants.

S. David Freeman is former head of the Tennessee Valley Authority, New York Power Authority and Los Angeles Dept. of Water and Power. He is known for shutting down nuclear plants after realizing they are too dangerous and are not financially viable. See Freeman’s You Tube video entitled, “Kill Nuclear Power Before It Kills Us”.

Also, Freeman is famous for his innovative energy conservation and cost-cutting programs, which are shown in his book, “Winning Our Energy Independence: An Energy Insider Shows How”. Freeman believes the U.S. can and must make a commitment to the cleanest, safest and most cost-effective energy — truly renewable energy (no to coal and no to fracking for natural gas) — as our primary power source.

This event is sponsored by Osage Group, Sierra Club; Missourians for Safe Energy/Peaceworks; Mid-MO Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom; University of Missouri Peace Studies; and Missouri Coalition for the Environment.

_— Linda Green, Columbia_