Carbon-free and Nuclear-free can mean we no longer “need” energy wars
Mar 26, 2015
Carbon-free and Nuclear-free can mean we no longer “need” energy wars
Global Heating
So, What about
nuclear power?
WPSR May 2009
Nuclear power is NOT carbon-free AND
it is dirty, dangerous, expensive, and too slow to reverse global
warming
WPSR May 2009
Nuclear Energy is NOT Carbon-free
Midnite uranium mine - Idaho
- photo Jamie Kneen – 2005
Mining and milling and enriching uranium ore . . 38%
Construction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12%
Operation (mostly downtime backup) . . . . . . . . . 17%
Fuel processing & waste disposal* . . . . . . . . . . . . 14%
Decommissioning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18%
* No nuclear fuel rods have been permanently disposed of anywhere in the world
WPSR May 2009http://www.nature.com/climate/2008/0810/full/climate.2008.99.html
Eight reasons to avoid nuclear power
1. Nuclear waste
2. Nuclear weapons proliferation
3. “Dirty” bombs
4. Chernobyl revisited ($350 billion so far)
5. Wall Street jitters (90 seconds = $90 billion)
6. A more vulnerable energy system
7. Less for investment in sustainable energy
8. Radiation risks
WPSR May 2009
1. Nuclear waste
WPSR May 2009
Reprocessing Problems:
• No nation has a commercially viable reprocessing facility
• France still runs a highly subsidized plant
• End products are plutonium or plutonium mixed with uranium plus other highly toxic radioactive contaminants in the liquid wastes
Hanford waste tank
WPSR May 2009
High Level Radioactive Wastes: DOE and GNEP
02468
101214161820
Billions of Curies
DOEGNEP 2011GNEP 2030
WPSR May 2009
2. Nuclear weapons proliferation
WPSR May 2009
Three dozen countries, including Iran, Japan, Brazil, Argentina, Egypt, Taiwan, South Korea, and Turkey, have the technological capacity to make nuclear weapons
Proliferation
WPSR May 2009
3. “Dirty” bombs
WPSR May 2009
4. Chernobyl revisited
($350 billion so far)
WPSR May 2009
Chernobyl after April 26, 1986
WPSR May 2009
Trip booked with Chernobyl Tour - Ecological Tour to Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant
WPSR May 2009
We’re directly in front of the sarcophagus now. The geiger counter is going mental. Its getting unnerving at this stage. Stand here for too long, and youll be going home with a healthy green glow. Some dumbass takes off his hat and puts it on the ground while he poses for a picture, Yuri almost kills him. 'DONT PUT STUFF ON THE GROUND!!!'. Dumbass.
WPSR May 2009
Pripyat 2008
WPSR May 2009
5. Wall Street jitters
(90 seconds = $90 billion loss)
WPSR May 2009
Nuclear energy is expensive
"For every dollar you spend on nuclear, you could have saved five or six times as much carbon with efficiency, or wind farms."
Benjamin K. Sovacool Research fellow at the National University of Singapore
WPPSS plants 2 & 3 at Satsop, WA
WPSR May 2009
Federal Energy R&D Expenditures1948-1998*
WPSR May 2009
Electricity subsidiesFirst 15 years (in billion 1999 dollars)
Renewable Energy Policy Project, July 2000
WPSR May 2009
Energy R&D in 2006
WPSR May 2009
Price-Anderson Act - 1957
• 1957 Senate report: “…the problem of reactor safety will be to a great extent solved and the insurance people will have had an experience on which to base a sound program of their own.”
• Pooled coverage for 103 plants = $9.8 billion
• Chernobyl - $350 billion already paid by Russia, Ukraine and Belarus
WPSR May 2009
Nuclear Engineering International Magazine – August 18, 2005
• Standard & Poor says that while the Energy Policy Act of 2005 is a small positive step for the utility and energy industries, the credit implications of the various provisions are, for the most part, marginal to the credit quality of industry participants.
http://www.neimagazine.com/story.asp?sc=2030540&ac=7969460
6. A more vulnerable energy system
WPSR May 2009
Nuclear power accident near NYC?
• Worst-case accident or attack for Indian Point nuclear plant 35 miles north of NYC could cause up to 43,700 immediate fatalities and up to 518,000 long-term cancer deaths
• Could cost up to $2.1 trillion
• Could force relocation of 11.1 million people -- Dr. Ed Lyman, UCS, Sept 2004, using NRC methodology
WPSR May 2009
7. Less for investment in sustainable energy
WPSR May 2009
Scaling up nuclear power will slow our response to global warming
US government estimates for earliest completion of new nuclear power plants:
2014 for current design
2025 for advanced (Generation IV) design
Cost overruns incurred in building the latest generation of nuclear power plants:
$150+ billion (2005 dollars)
-- UCS Position Paper on Nuclear Power and Global Warming, March 2007
WPSR May 2009
8. Radiation risks to workers and local communities
WPSR May 2009
Fossil fuels are used in uranium mining
WPSR May 2009
Summary of doubling dose estimates
for lung cancer in uranium miners
Archer (1967)......................................120 WLM* Hewitt (1980) - Ontario....................40-5O WLM
Newfoundland..............5O WLM Sevc (1976).........................................~50 WLM US EPA (1980)....................................~40 WLM Ellett (1980)...........................................40 WLM BEIR-II (1972).......................................34 WLM BCMA (1980) - NIOSH & Sevc........19-20 WLM
BEIR-III (198O).................................12-17 WLM Axelson (1980).........................................2 WLM
*1 WLM (working level month) = 1000 times background radiation levelsWPSR May 2009
Global Heating
It’s redressable!
Here are some alternatives
WPSR March 2009
Grass to biofuel
• The use of fossil fuels to power the process releases 0.3 tonnes of CO2 per hectare per year - but the growing grasses store 4.4 tonnes of CO2 in the roots and soil, meaning the net result is 4.1 tonnes removed from the atmosphere.
WPSR May 2009
Multi-Junction Solar CellThe latest multi-junction solar cell technology has been used in these cells which
enables more of the solar spectrum to be captured than is the case with conventional silicon solar cells. Each multi-junction solar cell is made of layers with each layer designed to capture one range of wavelengths of sunlight. This increases the number of photons whose band gaps are matched and so more sunlight is absorbed and converted into electric current increasing overall efficiency.
For example, if silicon is alloyed with carbon in a layer, the band gap increases and more blue light is absorbed. Conversely, if silicon is alloyed with germanium in another layer, the band gap is decreased and more red light is absorbed.
These new solar cells also use an optical concentrator (5) to increase the intensity of the sunlight hitting each solar cell. More photons of light equals more electricity generated and so efficiency is further increased.
The US Department of Energy believe that solar cells with such high efficiencies will eventually lead to installation costs of just $3 per watt and generate electricity at a competitive 8-10 cents per kWh. Spectrolab scientists believe that these multi-junction solar cells are capable of even higher efficiencies in the near future.
In 2007, according to the Global Wind Energy Council, more than 20,000 megawatts of capacity were installed internationally, with the United States, Spain, and China leading the way.
WPSR May 2009
What You Can Do
Green your personal lives
Green investments
Green policies local, state, nation, international/UN/treaties
WPSR May 2009
How any one of us can make our world a better place
• Take loving care of yourself and your family• Find ways to make the work you do a mission of
love and understanding• Offer what you do best to help solve the
problems you care most about• Give generously of your time, talents and
resources• Remain faithful to the best interests of our
children’s grandchildren• Remember, Life is sacred as is the Earth that
supports all life
WPSR May 2009
http://www.ieer.org
by Arjun Makhijani, Ph.D. A Joint Project of theNuclear Policy Research Instituteand the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research IEER Press and RDR Books, 2007257 pages, paperback
WPSR May 2009
Hanford Clean-up
Trident WMDs
WPSR’s areas of activism
Global Warming
Toxins-free Environment
Hanford Task Force
Energy & Peace Committee
Environment & Human Health Committee
Goodbye carbon fuels, new nuclear waste, and nuclear proliferation
Hello sun, wind, water, geothermal and weeds
WPSR May 2009