Andrew Follett reports that nuclear power plants have far less environmental impacts than any other energy source, according to top International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) officials. They also said nuclear power is more sustainable than wind or solar because waste is fully accounted for and plans to decommission plants exist before reactors are even built. As for the future, nuclear power plants (NPPs) and nuclear sites are the most sustainable energy sources in terms of environmental impact, of course, if there are no nuclear disasters, Mikhail Chudakov, deputy director of the IAEA, said at the conference in Moscow.
But even with disasters, if we divide them by years of operation (making allowance for Fukushima (which was not a disaster) and Chernobyl (which was a disaster), then the environmental and human health impact will be minimal for such an energy source as NPP, in contrast to coal and other power plants, Chudakov said. Chudakov stated that 7 million people die annually of diseases connected to the coal power industry, whereas nuclear power is statistically by far the safest form of power. He also stated that nuclear power has environmental benefits as it reduces carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions.
Environmental groups have always heavily lobbied against nuclear power (because of unfounded fear), but it seems doubtful they will be able to continue increasing the cost of nuclear plants and creating artificial delays in construction. Organizations like The Sierra Club, still oppose nuclear energy as they believe it leads to energy over-use and unnecessary economic growth, but new pro-nuclear environmental groups, like the Breakthrough Institute, are growing in stature. Nuclear power provides about 63% of U.S. CO2 free power. A single nuclear reactor can prevent 3.1 million tons of CO2 emissions annually. Coal now provides 44% of German power, despite the fact that coal ash is actually more radioactive than nuclear waste....
Original working URL: https://dailycaller.com/2016/12/01/nuclear-power-is-most-sustainable-energy-source-according-to-un-official/
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