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