Fred Pearce presents in this article the standard litany of anti-nuclear half-truths, misrepresentations and outright falsehoods common to those pandering to the under-informed base of their followers. A discerning reader should pick up the tiring rhetoric of this group. Yes, cheap natural gas and coal are still having an impact of the economics of electricity produced by nuclear power plants. But natural gas is needed to compete fairly... and coal burning should go away.
Yes, Westinghouse and Toshiba have been having financial issues. But large projects, like the major dams in the world, require time and money. That is the nature of these projects requiring years to build properly (even under excessive federal regulations). But they operate at very high efficiencies over 40 to 50 years and more to provide base-load power that allows renewable to appear to be successful. No, their are no longer real safety issues surrounding nuclear power, compared to every other power source. No one died at Three-Mile Island. No one died in Japan because of the plant damage from tsunamis. We have learned to handle even such meltdowns with minimal damage. The media stampeded the public away from nuclear power out of an unjustified fear of radiation.
Compared with coal mine and pipeline-railroad natural gas accidents over the years, Pearce indicates that those who brand themselves eco-modernists declare that nuclear power has unique virtues. Done right, they say, it can deliver low-carbon energy on a large scale from power plants that, unlike wind and solar power, do not require large amounts of land. It is, moreover, an established worldwide industry, and already generates around a 10% of global electricity. They argue that its costs, particularly for waste disposal, have been artificially raised by unreasonable safety demands made by radiation-phobic environmentalists. This is all true ... But read on. There is still more pandering coming in this article. Crisis? Clearly not.
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