nuclear-news

Waste of time and money pursuing the false climate solution of nuclear power

Nuclear solutions to climate change are anything but, Aljazeera Americaby Gregg Levine   @GreggJLevine 23 Sept 14  “……….Yes, nuclear plants generate waste. Highly radioactive waste. Mountains of it. The U.S. already has over 70,000 tons of spent nuclear fuel with no viable plan for permanent storage. Nevada’s Yucca Mountain was once supposed to take that payload, but after 20 years of trying to make it work, it was deemed unviable for a host of reasons. There is no permanent plan B.

The 1,500 new reactors would generate a Yucca Mountain-sized amount of waste every three to four years.

There is actually more, like the dangers of proliferation and the toxic pollution caused by related industries, and the increased chance or major accidents that come with such a vast increase in the number of reactors, but the bottom line is that nuclear power is neither greenhouse neutral nor quickly scalable; it is an edgy proposition in a warming environment, produces prodigious amounts of waste and, from start to finish, is actually now more expensive than a host of other options.

And therein lies the real rub. The time and money spent on nuclear could be much better spent on conservation programs, boosts in energy efficiency and the construction and development of truly renewable, genuinely low-carbon alternatives.

Those options would provide more jobs for less money and realize real energy production and greenhouse gas reductions far better and far faster than any kind of nuclear pipe dream.

And that presents a smarter, more sustainable and more attainable way toward the Paris 2015 goals and toward a better climate future. http://america.aljazeera.com/blogs/scrutineer/2014/9/23/nuclear-solutionstoclimatechangeareanythingbut.html

September 24, 2014 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | general