Why do we need nuclear energy?

Why Nuclear Energy

01 LAND USE

The small land footprint of nuclear power plants helps make them the most scalable and environmentally friendly energy source on earth.

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02 RAW MATERIALS USAGE

Because Uranium is so energy dense (a gummy bear sized piece of it makes as much power as a ton of coal!) you don’t need to mine very much material to make a vast amount of clean power. Less mining means less animal habitat is disturbed and less water is polluted versus other energy sources.

03 Jobs & Communities

Nuclear power provides high paying jobs and tax revenue to our communities. Many jobs in nuclear power are among the highest paying jobs available to people without a college degree, and the industry is a leading employer of veterans.

When a nuclear plant in Zion, IL closed in 1998 their community lost $18 million in annual property taxes from the plant the tax burden shifted to local businesses and residents, ballooning their taxes from 8.7% in ‘98, to 21.5% today. When the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant closed in Vernon, VT, they had to lay off the entire police force and secure outside contracts to keep the town safe.

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04 AFFORDABILITY

Nuclear energy helps keep electricity affordable and clean by providing always on, ultra low carbon power. The countries that have the cleanest electricity while keeping electricity cheap all have one thing in common: they have nuclear or hydro electric power as a low carbon baseload. On the other hand, the more weather dependent sources that are added, like wind and solar, the more expensive it becomes to store and transport the electricity to where it’s needed. Prices go up while reliability goes down.

05 Isn't nuclear dangerous?

All methods of producing energy have risks. Nuclear is statistically the safest. Every year, millions of people die from coal pollution, and workplace deaths in from other generation sources generate casualties at a higher rate than nuclear energy.

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06 But what will we do with the waste?

Well, there’s not that much. In fact, all of the nuclear waste ever produced from commercial power generation could fit on a football field about 24 feet high. You could fit all of the waste from your entire lifetime of energy consumption in a 12oz Coke can. We can safely store it in dry casks until we’re ready to recycle it in advanced reactors.

07 Nuclear isn't renewable, is it?

Though often not included with wind and solar, nuclear is technically renewable thanks to uranium extraction from seawater. Even without mining our oceans for Uranium, we have enough Uranium and Thorium for well over 100,000 years.

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08 Can't we solve climate change with 100% wind, water, solar?

Renewables play an important role in decarbonizing our energy portfolio, but they can’t do it alone. Studies have shown that decarbonizing with renewables alone is slower than with nuclear, so we need all the clean energy we can get. Carbon emissions in many countries correlate strongly with nuclear capacity.

Besides, replacing all energy production with renewables would require the mining of 275 million metric tons of copper (100% of worldwide copper production) for 14 years. As environmentalists, we can’t support that level of mining and habitat destruction when we have better options.

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So why are people still against nuclear?

There are a lot of myths about nuclear energy that are still perpetuated by the media, pop culture, and word of mouth. That’s why we’re here, and why we need you.

If nuclear is so good, why do we need to fight for it?

There are powerful forces against nuclear power. Anti-nuclear groups like Greenpeace and others have successfully blocked nuclear construction from happening and pushed regulations that hurt nuclear. These efforts are encouraged, and sometimes financed by the American Petroleum Institute… Big Oil. Why? They understand that wind and solar only generate power around 25% of the time, ensuring they will have plenty of opportunity to operate their gas-fired plants.

RESOURCES

Knowledge is power. These are a few resources we like to brush up on nuclear science and technology, energy in general, and climate change. Take a look.

Climate Gamble

This gripping audiobook digs into the climate math of why nuclear energy is so vital to our success on climate change. Read by Generation Atomic Founder, Eric Meyer.

Roadmap to Nowhere

Roadmap to Nowhere is an entertaining and well researched critique of Mark Z. Jacobson’s “Roadmap” plan to 100% Wind, Water, and Sun. By M. Conley and T. Maloney.