nuclear-news

Australian economist counters the nuclear fallacies

Get Ready For These Nuclear Fallacies New Matilda By Mark Diesendorf 7 Dec 09 “…. With the election of Tony Abbott as Opposition leader, a renewed burst of pro-nuclear propaganda is being spread by some of his colleagues, building on the existing campaign by the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) and other vested interests. Many fallacies and lies are being disseminated to the media and the public. Here are refutations of the most common ones.

Fallacy number 1: “19 per cent of global electricity comes from nuclear power.”

Refutation: Actually, the percentage contribution has been declining steadily through the 2000s to the extent that it reached 14 per cent in 2008. The decline is mainly the result of global electricity demand growing faster than global nuclear power capacity. At the time of writing (December 2009) there are only two new nuclear power stations under construction in Western countries, despite enormous subsidies.

Fallacy number 2: “Peak oil means that we need nuclear power as a substitute.”

Refutation: Oil is mostly burnt for transport, not electricity. Globally the main fuels for electricity generation are coal and gas in that order.

Fallacy number 3: “Nuclear power can help eradicate poverty in the Third World.”

Refutation: In most less developed countries, there are two populations: the middle- and upper-class elite who live in cities, and the majority of low-income earners who live in villages. Many of the latter are not connected to the grid, so nuclear power is irrelevant to them. Even where villages are grid-connected, most villagers cannot afford electrical appliances. The principal energy needs of most villagers are lighting and fuel for cooking. Tiny solar electric systems are often the best means of lighting and biogas from dung can be used for cooking.

Fallacy number 4: “Many environmentalists have become pro-nuclear.”

Refutation: Apart from Patrick Moore (ex-Greenpeace) and James Lovelock (who is an environmental scientist but not really an environmentalist), it’s hard, if not impossible, to name three prominent environmentalists who are pro-nuclear.

Fallacy number 5: “Nuclear power produces a tiny fraction of the waste of coal power.”

Refutation: Without wishing to defend coal, we can point out that that’s a misleading comparison. The fallacy is comparing the amount of high-level nuclear waste with all the amount of all the waste from coal mining. A fairer comparison would be to compare all the waste from both technologies. We must count the huge mountains of low-level waste from uranium mining (100 million tonnes uncovered at Roxby Downs alone). Then, if we compare nuclear power based on the mining of low-grade uranium ore with brown coal, we find that the amounts of waste are comparable in magnitude………………………..

Fallacy number 11: “Nuclear power has no CO2 emissions.”

Refutation: Every step in the long and complex nuclear fuel life-cycle, except reactor operation, burns fossil fuels and hence emits CO2. However, total CO2 emissions are at present quite small, indeed comparable with those of building some renewable energy systems. At present, nuclear power uses high-grade uranium ore and the emissions from mining and milling are quite small.

But reserves of high-grade ore are limited and could be used up within several decades at current usage rates. Once low-grade uranium ore has to be mined and milled, CO2 emissions will skyrocket. Then total CO2 emissions from the nuclear fuel cycle could get up to around 25–50 per cent of the emissions of an equivalent combined-cycle gas-fired power station, depending upon which study you believe. Therefore, based on existing technology (that is, no breeder reactors), nuclear power is not a long-term solution to global warming.

Fallacy number 12: “Nuclear power stations can be built in 3–4 years.”Refutation: Name some! The fallacy is only a statement of theory. In practice, most nuclear power stations take eight to 10 years from planning to first operation. In Australia, which doesn’t have suitable infrastructure, the first nuclear power station would take about 15 years. Once again, nuclear power is not a short-term solution to global warming.Fallacy number 13: “The integral fast reactor has several advantages over existing nuclear reactors, specifically a smaller waste problem and less risk of proliferation.”Refutation: Possibly in theory, but this kind of reactor doesn’t exist in practice — it is not even at the demonstration stage. The task of bringing it to commercial reality would be an enormous, expensive challenge, since the concept comprises two principal features that have so far failed commercially: fast breeder reactors and reprocessing of spent fuel. An Australian government would be crazy to become involved until the technology is commercially available and several reactors have been built to budget overseas.More detailed documented refutations of some of the above nuclear fallacies can be found in chapter 12 of my book Greenhouse Solutions with Sustainable Energy.However, these are just some of the fallacies uttered by proponents of nuclear power. There is also a whole branch devoted to putting down renewable energy. They include such fallacies as: “Renewable energy is intermittent and cannot supply base-load power”, “Renewable energy has huge land requirements,” and the classic: “Switching to renewable energy would cost jobs.”For detailed rebuttals of those misconceptions, see my recent book Climate Action: A campaign manual for greenhouse solutions.

Get Ready For These Nuclear Fallacies | newmatilda.com

December 8, 2009 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | 1, spinbuster | antinuclear, AUSTRALIA, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear wastes, nuclear weapons, radiation