Unmasking the Claims of the Antinuclear Movement: Climate, Health, and Energy at the Crossroads

[reACTIONary]

https://skepticalinquirer.org/2024/12/unmasking-the-claims-of-the-antinuclear-movement-climate-health-and-energy-at-the-crossroads/?utm_source=email&utm_campaign=si-issue-newsletter

In the 1950s, nuclear power was hailed as an excellent and affordable energy source. Lewis L. Strauss, the chairman of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, said in a speech given to the National Association of Science Writers in 1954 that he was hopeful of “electricity too cheap to meter” (Strauss 1954) in the long run.

During the 1970s and 1980s, a significant shift occurred in the global discourse. Climate issues had not entered mainstream discussions while the antinuclear movement gained substantial traction (Rothwell n.d.; Mills and Williams 1986). Later, as environmental concerns escalated, the spotlight was primarily on renewable energy sources, with nuclear power being perceived as a perilous option.

Given today’s problems, we must compare all energy sources based on facts, thereby understanding the implications for our climate, environment, and energy security, and overall prosperity.

[BoRaGard]

1. Postcard for the people

[reACTIONary]

3. An interesting info-graphic from the article:

Source: https://ourworldindata.org/safest-sources-of-energy

As a table from the source:

Deaths per terawatt-hour of energy production deaths per terawatt-hour

Energy source 2021
Brown coal...... 32.72
Coal................ 24.62
Oil.................. 18.43
Biomass .......... 4.63
Gas ................. 2.82
Hydropower......1.30
Wind................ 0.04
Nuclear............ 0.03
Solar............... 0.02
Data source: Markandya & Wilkinson (2007); Sovacool et al. (2016); UNSCEAR (2008; & 2018) – Learn more about this data

OurWorldinData.org/energy | CC BY

[Celerity]

8. clearer pic

you can also right click, open image in new tab for a larger pic

[reACTIONary]

10. Thanks!

[Dennis Donovan]

2. I think we should store nuclear waste on the Moon.

(Yes, my post title is sarcasm, intended to set up my gratuitous inclusion of the ITV show "Space: 1999" opening theme )

[reACTIONary]

5. Two years short...

... of a space odyssey!

[CoopersDad]

4. In California, at least, nuclear plants are a valued part of carbon-free generation.

Thus the extension of Diablo Canyon's operational life.

No source of power is without fault, but a change in focus on carbon reduction has led to less intractable opposition to nuclear power, especially small modular reactors as part of our carbon-free portfolio. In other words, nuclear is counted on the "+" side with renewables.



https://www.energy.ca.gov/programs-and-topics/topics/renewable-energy/clean-energy-serving-california

[Meowmee]

6. Maybe the main reason our electricity costs are sky high is due to anti nuclear activists shuttling a plant

here.

[hunter]

7. Germany's decision to shut down their nuclear power plants for cheap Russian gas and greenwash...

... was an environmental, economic, political, and humanitarian catastrophe.

Nations that allow themselves to become dependent on natural gas from Trump's U.S.A. ought to be wary.

[dalton99a]

9. +1. Impulsive, wasteful, idiotic