Exposing the false claims of the nuclear lobby

PANDORA’S FALSE PROMISES BUSTING THE PRO-NUCLEAR PROPAGANDA A Beyond Nuclear Report ❒ (Download the full report here http://www.beyondnuclear.org/ ) TWO-PAGE SUMMARY, 18 May 13

❒ Nuclear power, no matter the reactor design, cannot address climate change in time. In order to displace a signiﬁcant amount of carbon-emitting fossil-fuel generation, another 1,000 to 1,500 new 1,000+ Megawatt reactors would need to come on line worldwide by 2050, a completely prohibitive proposition.

❒ So-called “Generation IV” reactor designs, including “fast” or “small modular reactors,” are the last gasp of a failing industry. Earlier versions of the fast breeder reactor were commercial failures and safety disasters. The ever soaring costs make nuclear power a ﬁnancial quagmire for investors, and expensive new prototypes commercially unattractive.

❒ Proponents of the Integral Fast Reactor, such as those in Pandora’s Promise, overlook the exorbitant costs; proliferation risks; that it is decades away from deployment; that it would not so much consume radioactive waste as theoretically transmute it; and that its use of sodium as a coolant can lead to ﬁres and explosions.

❒ The continued daily use of nuclear energy means continued risk of radiation

exposure to surrounding populations. Ionizing radiation released by nuclear

power plants, either routinely or in large amounts after an accident, causes

cellular damage and mutations in DNA, which in turn can lead to cancers and

other illnesses. Children are particularly vulnerable and their leukemia rates have

been shown to rise the closer they live to an operating nuclear power reactor.

❒ Low-ball health predictions after nuclear accidents are not reliable. The 2005

IAEA/WHO Chernobyl report has been discredited for suppressing key data to

justify low death predictions that do not stand up to scientiﬁc scrutiny.

IAEA has a conﬂict of interest with a mandate to promote nuclear technology. Given the

latency period of cancers caused by radiation exposure, it is too soon to predict

the long-term health impacts of the Fukushima nuclear disaster, although some

health effects are already being observed.

❒ The alleged “failure” of renewable energy sources to supplant coal, oil, nuclear

and natural gas in the US is less a technological defect than a result of the

enormous lobbying power of the traditional energy industries. In 2008, the

Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) spent $2,360,000 lobbying Congress, their highest

tally to date. This political barrier ﬂies in the face of numerous studies that show

wind and solar energy alone could produce orders of magnitude more electricity

than currently used by US consumers and industry.

❒ The example of Germany — and numerous studies — demonstrate that both

coal and nuclear can be phased out in favor of renewable energy. The German

renewable energy sector already employs 380,000 people compared to 30,000 in

the nuclear energy sector.

❒ The argument that only nuclear provides “carbon-free,” base load energy is out

of date. Geothermal and offshore wind energy are capable of delivering reliable

base load power with a smaller carbon footprint than nuclear energy. Energy

efﬁciency is also an essential component in displacing nuclear and coal.

❒ Myths about the French nuclear program abound. Only 4% of the country’s

high-level radioactive waste has been vitriﬁed and stored. Given its 80%

dependency on nuclear power, when droughts and heat waves force reactors to

power down or close, France has no other options and is forced to import

electricity. France has an enormous, unsolved waste problem with no repository;

a huge extra expense due to its misadventure with fast breeder reactors; and a

radiological legacy from its 210 abandoned uranium mines which continue to

pollute the environment today.

❒ There is no such thing as a “pro-nuclear environmentalist.” Environmentalists

do not support extractive, non-sustainable industries like nuclear energy, which

poisons the environment; releases cancer-causing radioactive elements; creates

radioactive waste deadly for thousands of years and, if there is an accident, can

render vast areas permanent sacriﬁce zones.

A publication of:

Beyond Nuclear, 6930 Carroll Avenue, Suite 400,Takoma Park, MD 20912.

Tel: 301.270.2209. Info@BeyondNuclear.org. http://www.BeyondNuclear.org

May 2013.

May 18, 2013 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | 2 WORLD, spinbuster

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