I learned something from the show ... taxpayers are the insurers of the nuclear power plants because regular insurance companies will not insure them.

Price-Anderson Nuclear Industries Indemnity Act

But WAIT ... there's more!

The nuclear power industry is ALSO exempt from liability in the U.S. in case of an accident:

The Act establishes a no fault insurance-type system in which the first approximately $12.6 billion (as of 2011) is industry-funded as described in the Act. Any claims above the $12.6 billion would be covered by a Congressional mandate to retroactively increase nuclear utility liability or would be covered by the federal government. At the time of the Act's passing, it was considered necessary as an incentive for the private production of nuclear power — this was because electric utilities viewed the available liability coverage (only $60 million) as inadequate.

As I understand it, each individual company would only be responsible for $375 million, with the remainder of the $12 billion shared by the whole nuclear industry. The bill for any overages would go to the taxpayers.

It's still far, far more responsible than the liability limits for oil companies and offshore drilling, which to date tops out at a laughable $75 million.

Thanks, GOP!

Des,

A caller, near the end of the program asked Brad about that law. Interesting law isn't it?

That law reminds me that the age of bail outs is upon us. And I do mean us.

The nuke industry would pass anything they pay on to their customers as "a cost of doing business" instead of "a cost of being blatantly negligent".

Bail outs are the removal of accountability.

Either way bail out mania is another enemy of the our foundations: "to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity" it would seem.

Bail out the wealthy with tax breaks, the banks, the corps (GE paid no taxes last year), the insurance AIG's, and the BP's of the world.

Meanwhile homelessness, dementia, poverty, and the divide between the oppressors and the oppressed grows.

The nuke insurance scam on the taxpayers is similar to the post-911 law Congress passed covering potential "terrorism-related" costs for airlines. In both cases, costs are being externalized onto the taxpayers. In a classic "free market" pricing scheme, those costs would be built into the price, which incidentally would tend to make "out of favor" industries (green energy or trains, for example) more feasible from an economic standpoint. Of course, the ultimate kick in the teeth is that while the Greedy Old Pigs (and their Dem enablers) are shoveling out cash commitments to various industries, health care for all is repeatedly shut down.