The Hoax That Nuclear Power Is Green
At 17:24 minutes into this video: Nuclear power produces the
equivalent of seven grams of CO2
per kilowatt hour; mining and refining uranium produces
another 20-30 grams per kWh. That comes to about 30-40 grams
per kWh, compared to less than 10 for wind power
(construction) - and around 1100 for coal, and around half
that for
natural gas. Of course, to
build a nuclear plant would contribute more CO2,
though that is not likely to be happening anymore.
Conference on Financial and Environmental Dangers of NY's
$7.6 billion Nuclear Bailout, and Soaring Cancer Rates Near
Nuclear Reactors. Organized by Radiation and Public Health
Project. (30-minute video by Karl Grossman,
EnviroVideo) July 2019
The 7 reasons nuclear energy is not the answer to solve
climate change
#6: Carbon-equivalent emissions and
air pollution
*
There is no such thing as a zero- or close-to-zero emission
nuclear power plant. Even existing plants emit due to the
continuous mining and refining of uranium needed for the
plant.
* Emissions from new nuclear are 78 to 178 g-CO2/kWh,
not close to 0. Of this, 64 to 102 g-CO2/kWh over 100 years
are emissions from the background grid while consumers wait
10 to 19 years for nuclear to come online or be refurbished,
relative to 2 to 5 years for wind or solar.
In addition, all
nuclear plants emit 4.4 g-CO2e/kWh from the water vapor and
heat they release. This contrasts with solar panels and wind
turbines, which reduce heat or water vapor fluxes to the air
by about 2.2 g-CO2e/kWh for a net difference from this
factor alone of 6.6 g-CO2e/kWh.
*
In fact, China’s investment in nuclear plants that take so
long between planning and operation instead of wind or solar
resulted in China’s CO2 emissions increasing 1.3 percent
from 2016 to 2017 rather than declining by an estimated
average of 3 percent. The resulting difference in air
pollution emissions may have caused 69,000 additional air
pollution deaths in China in 2016 alone, with additional
deaths in years prior and since.
By Professor Mark Z. Jacobson, Stanford University, June 20,
2019
Government Report Shows that Nuclear Uranium Deal was
Illegal The Energy Northwest uranium
deal was brokered to keep the Paducah enrichment plant open.
It also takes eight coal-fired power plants running full
time to keep the Paducah plant operating. This is part of
the carbon footprint of the Columbia Generating Station
(WPPSS-2). By Leslie March, Sierra Club, June 13, 2014
Kentucky Fried Politics -
the story of how two U.S.
Senators, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and tea
party advocate Rand Paul, teamed up to scam ratepayers in
the Northwest by forcing Energy Northwest, an electricity
supplier to the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA), to pay $700 million for enriched uranium–that BPA
didn’t even need–that could have been purchased on the open
market for $450 million.
The Paducah uranium enrichment plant that benefited from
this deal is a huge contributor of global-warming gases to
the atmosphere.
By David Cay Johnston, Newsweek, January 23, 2014
Commentary on the article
here
New Report: Ratepayers Could Save $1.7 Billion if Aging
Nuclear Plant at Hanford is Closed
The
full report also
states that although the plant is considered “carbon free,”
its owner, Energy Northwest (formerly WPPSS), purchased
nuclear fuel worth $700 million from a now-closed fuel
enrichment plant in Paducah, Kentucky. “The
dirty carbon footprint of nuclear power is not as well known
as it should be,”
notes Susan Corbett, chair of the Sierra Club Nuclear Free
Campaign. “The fact that Energy Northwest served as the
broker to run the dirty Paducah nuclear fuel plant for an
additional year is a black eye for them and the industry as
a whole.” Physicians for Social Responsibility, December 11, 2013
