FORESIGHT & HINDSIGHT
Watching the world's most technologically advanced nation desperately trying to cool fuel rods by dropping water from helicopters is a sobering sight, and one that can't help but make you stop and think. It throws the dangers of nuclear power right back into the limelight and provides a clear and present focus for anti-nuclear power campaigners.
Germany is going to close seven of its 17 plants, China has put plans for its next 110 plants on hold, the US are having a 'rethink' after popular support for its a nuclear power programme plummeted as images from Fukushima were beamed into millions of homes, although President Obama and Energy Secretary Steven Chu have both stated that their support continues since the earthquake. Here in the UK we have taken the decisive measure of commissioning another report.
One nation stands apart from the fresh reticence – India has considerable nuclear ambitions and has said it is continuing unabated. It plans to generate over 60gW from nuclear power by 2030, compared to the 4.8gW it generates today.
My view is that Fukishima changes little. It seems to me that we might remind ourselves of the fact that the reactor didn't fail and the plant didn't crash and crumble as a result of a terrible earthquake and tsunami. It stood, intact. It support system failed in that the cooling water pumps had no power. Fukishima is over 30 years old. The reactors on the drawing boards today have emergency cooling systems on top of the containment units which require only gravity to operate.
It really is a matter of finding a perspective. There is no doubt whatsoever that nuclear power carries inherent and potentially catastrophic dangers. However I can't escape the conclusion that whilst the nuclear option carries with it the possibility of disaster, burning fossil fuel comes with the certainty.
Since the age of nuclear power dawned, there have been 19 'accidents' at nuclear power plants, causing 64 deaths with 53 of these from Chernobyl. These include comparatively minor events such as closure due to a faulty valves or corrosion. The fact is that in terms of loss of life and damage to the environment since 1961, the nuclear power option has proved remarkably benign. Today, the Chernobyl site has been reclaimed by Mother Nature and is almost a wildlife reserve. In terms of the release of CO2, nuclear power has a carbon footprint approaching zero.
Coal-fired plants produce almost 10 billion tonnes of CO2 each year That equates to approximately 114,155 tonnes per hour or 1,900 tonnes per minute. In real terms, the damage done to the global environment by coal-fired burning during the time you have spent reading this article exceeds that of nuclear power since 1961. Yes – this is a fag-packet calculation and yes – of course there are a great many other things to be taken into account, but I think the point is made.
If we were to adopt sustainable means and real renewable energy methods such as CHP; if we would pay something more than lip service to energy conservation and efficiency, we could conceivably reach the stage where there is no necessity for these damned things. I know that a great many people are convinced of these arguments.
I remain unconvinced, and leave you with the conclusion drawn by James Lovelock in his famous and prophetic article of 2004, the year after the European heatwave.
" Opposition to nuclear energy is based on irrational fear fed by Hollywood-style fiction, the Green lobbies and the media. These fears are unjustified, and nuclear energy from its start in 1952 has proved to be the safest of all energy sources. We must stop fretting over the minute statistical risks of cancer from chemicals or radiation. Nearly one third of us will die of cancer anyway, mainly because we breathe air laden with that all pervasive carcinogen, oxygen. If we fail to concentrate our minds on the real danger, which is global warming, we may die even sooner, as did more than 20,000 unfortunates from overheating in Europe last summer
.
Even if they were right about its dangers, and they are not, its worldwide use as our main source of energy would pose an insignificant threat compared with the dangers of intolerable and lethal heat waves and sea levels rising to drown every coastal city of the world. We have no time to experiment with visionary energy sources; civilisation is in imminent danger and has to use nuclear - the one safe, available, energy source - now or suffer the pain soon to be inflicted by our outraged planet."
steve@stephenmgrant.com
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