About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

35 Ecology L. Currents 53 (2008)
Myths of the Nuclear Renaissance

handle is hein.journals/ecolwcur35 and id is 55 raw text is: Myths of the Nuclear Renaissance Jim Harding- I. Costs of New Plant Construction ................................................. 54 II. Fuel Supply Problem s .................................................................... 56 III. W aste Disposal Challenges .......................................................... 57 IV. Limits and Risks to Worldwide Expansion of Capacity ............ 58 V. Two Alternatives -Renewables and Efficiency ......................... 60 More than thirty years ago, my now-deceased colleague David Comey was asked to make a presentation before the annual meeting of the Atomic Industrial Forum, then the major trade association backing expansion of nuclear power worldwide.1 He was asked to deliver that speech because he had built credibility with the press and with key decision makers by being scrupulously careful with his facts and analyses. The industry understood that its reputation -particularly with the media-was poor, and they wanted to understand how David did it. In Comey's view, there was an easy explanation-the nuclear industry regularly exaggerated and misled. In the intervening years, not much has changed. The industry still seems to prefer the sound of a splashy argument to a defensible case. Popular articles in the press, some opinion leaders and politicians, and even some environmentalists have bought the notion of a nuclear renaissance. Among other things, we hear that: 1) nuclear power is cheap; 2) learning and new standardized designs solve all past problems; 3) the waste problem is a non-problem, especially if we'd follow the lead of many other nations and recycle our spent fuel; 4) climate change makes a renaissance inevitable; Copyright © 2008 by the Regents of the University of California. Consultant on encrgy and cnvironmcntal issues; based in Olympia, Washington. Former director of power planning and forccasting and director of extcrnal affairs for Seattle City Light. Contact jimhard@comcast.net. This Article was adapted in 2008 from a presentation given at the Confercncc on the 50th Annivcrsary of thc Euratom Trcaty, Brusscls, Bclgium, March 7-8, 2007 1. David Comey was executive director of the Chicago-based organization, Citizens for a Bcttcr Environment. In that rolc and with Business and Professional Pcoplc in thc Public Interest (BPI), hc was an early lcader among skeptics of nuclear powcr.

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most