Last week ’ s bankruptcy of Westinghouse Electric Co . is yet more evidence , if anyone needed any , that the economics of nuclear power are not good . Like coal , nuclear energy can ’ t compete against cheap natural gas and ever - cheaper renewables . Unlike coal , however , nuclear energy is a crucial tool in the fight against climate change . So the public subsidies that benefit the nuclear industry in the US are justified , whereas efforts to prop up the coal industry are not . And states are offering or proposing enormous subsidies . New York Gov . Andrew Cuomo wants to spend $ 500 million a year to keep three plants going ; Illinois will pay $ 235 million a year to rescue two more . Nuclear plant owners in other states are looking for similar bailouts . There is no getting around the costs to ratepayers of these handouts , and there ’ s no guarantee they will work . But they are worth trying as a way to keep nuclear in the energy mix as long as possible and they are cheaper for the consumer than having nuclear plants shut down . There are 99 reactors in the US and nuclear still provides one - fifth of America ’ s electric power . When nuclear plants close , their output is largely replaced with coal and natural gas . That ’ s a backward step not only for climate but also for public health . In the 1980 s , when the Tennessee Valley Authority temporarily closed two nuclear plants and replaced them with coal - fired power , pollution increased enough in some counties to lower babies ’ average birth weight significantly , according to a new study . The challenge is to keep the existing big nuclear reactors going while smaller , cheaper reactors are perfected . Future nuclear technology should have the kind of production and investment tax credits that wind and solar have relied on , as well as reforms to unnecessarily burdensome licensing requirements . It ’ s possible that next - generation nuclear power won ’ t come to fruition in time to fully replace the plants now operating . Perhaps nuclear will one day be eclipsed by other technological innovations -- batteries , for example , that could turn wind and solar into a steady stream of energy . But climate change is happening now , and nuclear has already proved to be a reliable source of clean power . It ’ s only prudent for the government to support the latter as a way of fighting the former . ( Bloomberg ) [ 코리아 헤럴드 ] [ K - POP HERALD ] [ 페이스북 ] <ⓒ KoreaHerald ( www . koreaherald . com ) 무단 전재 및 재 배포 금지 >