Green Daily

The radiation risks from nuclear plants and the "problem" of nuclear waste are both highly overstated in popular culture and in the mainstream media. The more people learn about nuclear energy, the more they recognize its value in our energy mix.

Readers might find this infomative: I posted recent articles and podcasts here http://thisweekinnuclear.com/?p=856 about nuclear waste
and here http://thisweekinnuclear.com/?p=907 about the health affects of radiation from nuclear plants.

John Wheeler
Producer of "This Week in Nuclear"
http://thisweekinnuclear.com

Reply

One interesting facet of the "no nukes" movement is that they did an excellent job of hindering the growth of the only new energy source that has ever taken a substantial amount of market share from fossil fuel combustion.

In 1960, the total production from nuclear power plants in the United States was just 0.5 billion kilowatt-hours each year. By 1970 it was 21.8 billion kilowatt-hours. By 1975 it was 172. 5 billion kilowatt-hours. By 2000, it was 753.9 billion kilowatt-hours and represented as much power every year as the total power generation for the entire US grid in 1960.

If nuclear had kept growing as fast in the period from 1980-2000 as it did in the period from 1960-1980, coal would have been out of business by 2000. In other words, the "no-nukes" crowd contributed a great deal to keeping coal in business.

Rod Adams
Publisher, Atomic Insights
Host and producer, The Atomic Show Podcast

Reply

Too true, the dangers of nuclear power have been overblown. Sadly, so has its advantages.

We just went through this all here in Ontario. In spite of best efforts, Darlington B was going to cost well over $26 billion, something no one could afford. So they cancelled it. For that same $26 billion dollars you can build an entire manufacturing economy to provide green power for the peaking problems, and we already had enough power for the off-peak.

And then there's the looming problem of fuel supply. There's simply not enough uranium to feed the nuclear economy the proponents advocate. It's expensive enough as it is, a rush on fuel prices isn't going to help matters. Say what you will about PV, at least the sun is free.

Reply