Nuclear energy
myth
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 23:23:00
03/09/2009
Filed Under: Nuclear
Policies,
Nuclear power,
Climate Change,
Energy & Resources,
Environmental Issues
This is in response to the front-page article titled “Nuke
energy key to stem climate change” (3/2/09), which is about the
nuclear industry’s claim that nuclear power has a role in climate
change mitigation.
Nuclear power in fact undermines climate protection and can only
make a negligible contribution to carbon dioxide (CO2)
reduction.
The nuclear industry would like us to believe that nuclear power
offers a much better option for generating electricity because it
does not release significant amounts of greenhouse gases or toxic
pollution. However, nuclear power plants are not much of an
improvement over conventional coal-burning power plants despite
claims that nuclear is the “clean air energy.”
Uranium mining, milling, leaching, plant construction and
decommissioning are all energy-intensive activities which produce
substantial amounts of greenhouse gases. Taking into account the
carbon-equivalent emissions associated with the entire nuclear life
cycle, nuclear plants contribute significantly to climate change and
will contribute even more as stockpiles of high-grade uranium are
depleted.
Even assuming that the nuclear industry is the largest
carbon-free energy source, as proponents claim, even if the industry
quadruples its generating capacity, this would only reduce CO2
emissions from the energy sector by a mere six percent by 2050. Yet
to achieve that, 1,300 large reactors would have to be built. That
means one reactor every two weeks, starting from today to 2050, with
investment costs reaching up to $10 trillion.
Add this to the insurmountable problem of radioactive nuclear
waste whose toxicity lasts for 12,000 human generations, and nuclear
energy is clearly not the right choice and should definitely not be
part of any climate change strategy.
BEAU BACONGUIS, campaigns manager-Philippines, Greenpeace
Southeast Asia (via email) |
