Selling “Clean, Natural Gas” By Casting Doubt On Nuclear Energy
Several times in the past week, I have pointed out just how much money is involved in pushing people to act in certain ways in response to the threat of…
I came across an informative article in the Time South Pacific edition (on-line of course) titled Plugging in to Nuclear. The teaser summary of the article was enough to grab my attention
As some greens learn to love atomic power, Australia weighs whether to use its abundant uranium at home.
Not only is the entire article worth a read for a balanced look at how various factions view nuclear power, but it also includes a useful paragraph at the very end that fits into the “Smoking Gun” series here.
For those of you that are new to the Atomic Insights Blog or who have simply forgotten about the smoking gun articles, this series is an attempt to document evidence of one of my primary theories. Based on about fifteen years worth of research, a little bit of understanding of human nature from life and literature, and a sideline of involvement in competitive businesses, I have reached the conclusion that a large portion of the financial and political support that has made the anti-nuclear movement a success comes from its competitors in the fossil fuel industry or its beneficiaries.
Here is the “Smoking Gun” passage from Plugging in to Nuclear
Cost. The two sides differ on how to compare the costs of nuclear and other power. Nuclear plants are hugely expensive to build: an average-sized plant costs about $A2.5 billion. But they need very little fuel—uranium yields up to 1 million times as much energy as the same quantity of coal. The ansto study found that, taking waste management costs into account, nuclear power from an advanced plant “is cheaper than generating it from coal or a [clean coal] station.”
Unlike its uranium, Australia’s fossil fuel reserves underpin huge domestic industries. Opponents say nuclear power would put thousands of jobs at risk. It’s largely for economic reasons that the premiers of New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland have vowed not to lift their states’ nuclear bans. Queensland Nationals Senator Barnaby Joyce agreed: “I can’t see the logic of promoting competition to my state’s major export.”
Read that paragraph again carefully. A study shows that a nuclear plant can produce electricity more cheaply than a coal plant. Coal is a huge industry in certain regions. A politician from one of those regions clearly states that he will not support a competitor to that huge industry.
My point in this series is to get people to “follow the money” and question the source or motivation of any anti-nuclear commentary that you find. There are plenty of sincere people who do not like nuclear power, but there are some very powerful people that have ulterior financial motives for their stance.
Rod Adams is Managing Partner of Nucleation Capital, a venture fund that invests in advanced nuclear, which provides affordable access to this clean energy sector to pronuclear and impact investors. Rod, a former submarine Engineer Officer and founder of Adams Atomic Engines, Inc., which was one of the earliest advanced nuclear ventures, is an atomic energy expert with small nuclear plant operating and design experience. He has engaged in technical, strategic, political, historic and financial analysis of the nuclear industry, its technology, regulation, and policies for several decades through Atomic Insights, both as its primary blogger and as host of The Atomic Show Podcast. Please click here to subscribe to the Atomic Show RSS feed. To join Rod's pronuclear network and receive his occasional newsletter, click here.
Several times in the past week, I have pointed out just how much money is involved in pushing people to act in certain ways in response to the threat of global climate change. It seems so obvious to me that the most useful tool in shifting our economy to sustainability without emitting carbon dioxide into…
Yesterday, I wrote a quick post that linked a recently issued UBS report’s negative views about the economic viability of merchant nuclear power plants in the US to UBS’s large portfolio of troubled loans to companies involved in various aspects of the natural gas extraction technique known as “fracing” (alternatively spelled as fracking in many…
As a reminder, the words “smoking gun” in a blog title here at Atomic Insights means that the post will be about a direct attack on the use of nuclear fission by someone who represents one of its many energy supply competitors – oil, coal, natural gas or one of the weaker alternative energy sources….
On April 28, 2011, Roland Kupers, a former Royal Dutch Shell executive and current visiting fellow at Oxford University, published an opinion piece titled The end of nuclear power that exposed his dislike of nuclear energy. Here is an example quote from that piece: That dream always contained the seeds of a nightmare. While the…
If you have followed any of my recent Twitter posts, (atomicrod) you will note that I have been involved for a day or so in an ongoing discussion with an anti-nuclear California lawyer from Marina Del Rey named Roger Sowell on Joe Romm’s Climate Progress blog. It has been an enlightening experience. Here is one…
On December 8, 1953 President Eisenhower announced to the UN that the US knew how to harness atomic energy to produce useful power. He stated that the US was willing to widely share that knowledge. He described an especially intriguing possibility of using atomic energy to bring power to the “power-starved areas of the world.”…