Self-defeating Environmentalism: The Case of Nuclear Energy Technologies
Sam Vaknin Ph.D.
June 01, 2009
More than 70% of contracts for new nuclear power plants were cancelled between 1970 and 1990. Nuclear energy has proven to be by far too expensive, partly the outcome of meager investment in research and development. But why didn't this promising industry seek efficiency and productivity gains? Why didn't it increase its capacity to remove production bottlenecks (for instance of containment vessels)? Why did the entire civilian nuclear sector capitulate even in the face of volatile oil prices which should have rendered it more of an attractive energy option? The short answer is: the malignantly romantic (not to mention highly lucrative) cult known as "environmentalism".
Nuclear energy is a prime example of how environmental hype and spin can and does become self-defeating. Chernobyl aside, nuclear power is by far the safest and cleanest of sustainable energy sources. Yet, instead of embracing it wholeheartedly, well-paid and self-promoting activists used a lethal cocktail of data - both wrong and misinterpreted - to derail its deployment with scare tactics and apocalyptic, headline-grabbing "analyses", sometimes even maliciously or erroneously conflating nuclear power with atomic weapons!
Their egos sated with media exposure and their wallets fattened by grants and contributions from gullible governments and individuals, environmental "scholars" then proceeded to leverage public ignorance, prejudices, and superstitions to press for legislation (often via litigation) that has retarded the industry, stunted its growth, and indirectly enhanced emissions of greenhouse gases. Today, less than one seventh of the world's electricity (and 2.5% of total energy consumed) is produced by nuclear fission. The environmental conspiracy theorists have prevailed yet again.
Happily, this is fast changing. Electricity shortages, brownouts and blackouts have grown increasingly common in many developing countries; the prices of fossil fuels - even after the recent precipitous fall - are still expensive; global warming is real; even more ominously, our atmosphere is suffused with heavy metals emitted by burning coal and oil. All these conspire in favor of the nuclear option. So do new safety and green radiation technologies (e.g., passively safe plants and, in the near future, fourth generation reactors); rising concerns regarding national energy security; and commercial by-products of nuclear power generation which render it more feasible (examples being: desalination; heating; and the production of hydrogen).
Countries like France and Japan (and, to a lesser extent, the United States) serve as role models. Thanks to its nuclear policy, according to various media, France has the cleanest air of any industrialized country and the cheapest electricity in Europe. Nuclear power plants are in operation or being constructed in 43 countries. Nuclear energy produced by 2015 (in the pipeline) will exceed 400 GW (and 800 GW by 2030). Europe is the continent most open to nuclear technology, though some members of the European Union have yet to overcome their environmental propaganda hangover.
Still, it is a steep incline. Even under the most optimistic of scenarios, four years hence (in 2013), the nuclear power generation segment in North America is likely to amount to a fraction (less than 20%) of the gas and coal industries, not to mention the petroleum complexes. Wind energy may surpass nuclear sources within 20 years. The International Atomic Energy Agency predicted, in 2008, that the share of nuclear-generated power in the global energy mix will remain stable in the next 20 years, even under the most optimistic assumptions.
Nuclear energy is a prime example of how environmental hype and spin can and does become self-defeating. Chernobyl aside, nuclear power is by far the safest and cleanest of sustainable energy sources. Yet, instead of embracing it wholeheartedly, well-paid and self-promoting activists used a lethal cocktail of data - both wrong and misinterpreted - to derail its deployment with scare tactics and apocalyptic, headline-grabbing "analyses", sometimes even maliciously or erroneously conflating nuclear power with atomic weapons!
Their egos sated with media exposure and their wallets fattened by grants and contributions from gullible governments and individuals, environmental "scholars" then proceeded to leverage public ignorance, prejudices, and superstitions to press for legislation (often via litigation) that has retarded the industry, stunted its growth, and indirectly enhanced emissions of greenhouse gases. Today, less than one seventh of the world's electricity (and 2.5% of total energy consumed) is produced by nuclear fission. The environmental conspiracy theorists have prevailed yet again.
Happily, this is fast changing. Electricity shortages, brownouts and blackouts have grown increasingly common in many developing countries; the prices of fossil fuels - even after the recent precipitous fall - are still expensive; global warming is real; even more ominously, our atmosphere is suffused with heavy metals emitted by burning coal and oil. All these conspire in favor of the nuclear option. So do new safety and green radiation technologies (e.g., passively safe plants and, in the near future, fourth generation reactors); rising concerns regarding national energy security; and commercial by-products of nuclear power generation which render it more feasible (examples being: desalination; heating; and the production of hydrogen).
Countries like France and Japan (and, to a lesser extent, the United States) serve as role models. Thanks to its nuclear policy, according to various media, France has the cleanest air of any industrialized country and the cheapest electricity in Europe. Nuclear power plants are in operation or being constructed in 43 countries. Nuclear energy produced by 2015 (in the pipeline) will exceed 400 GW (and 800 GW by 2030). Europe is the continent most open to nuclear technology, though some members of the European Union have yet to overcome their environmental propaganda hangover.
Still, it is a steep incline. Even under the most optimistic of scenarios, four years hence (in 2013), the nuclear power generation segment in North America is likely to amount to a fraction (less than 20%) of the gas and coal industries, not to mention the petroleum complexes. Wind energy may surpass nuclear sources within 20 years. The International Atomic Energy Agency predicted, in 2008, that the share of nuclear-generated power in the global energy mix will remain stable in the next 20 years, even under the most optimistic assumptions.
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