First appeared as a letter to the Editor in
Nuclear Guardianship Forum, #3, Spring 1994.
It is a common perception that nuclear power is a dead industry, and that most people oppose the construction and operation of nuclear power reactors. A recent Harris poll released by the Safe Energy Communications Council in Washington DC revealed that 65 percent respondents opposed such construction, and the opposition has increased steadily every year since 1975. Three nuclear industry conferences held in November 1993 centered on how to get around these statistics.
THREE PRO-NUCLEAR CONFERENCES
The American Nuclear Society (ANS), a nuclear professionals organization and the United States Council for Energy Awareness (USCEA), a lobbying and public relations group recognizable by their pro-nuclear advertising, each held a conference to discuss ways to promote the nuclear agenda. Especially evident at the ANS conference was the grave concern for the future of the industry. They see themselves fighting an uphill battle to gain public acceptance - a perception that seems to imbue them with ferocious determination.
The third conference, the California Radioactive Materials Management Forum (Cal Rad), made up of California nuclear industries, met to discuss ways to carry out the siting of a low- level radioactive waste dump in Southern California at Ward Valley which has been strongly opposed by public interest groups. The waste dump was identified at the ANS conference as a necessary precondition for any new construction of nuclear power plants.
CYNICISM ON THE NUCLEAR WASTE ISSUE
Despite the great deal of thought that went into many of the papers and presentations at the conference, it was chilling to note the pervasive attitude toward the topic of safe and effective containment of nuclear waste. Virtually every speaker voiced cynicism that there would be any resolution of the waste issue soon.
NUCLEAR INDUSTRY PLANS EXPANSION
It is not only at these conferences that the industry has given thought to its desired resurrection. The Strategic Plan to Build New Nuclear Power Plants outlines steps to gain social and technical acceptance by the turn of the century. The Strategic Plan voices a fear that the industry will be lost if there is not at least one construction project under way by the year 2000.
One possible issue the industry would like to exploit is the Greenhouse effect. It is hoped that the nuclear option will become acceptable with the claim that nuclear fission gives off no greenhouse gases. However, a British Parliamentary study a few years ago concluded that when mining, transportation and fuel reprocessing were included [Editor: waste contamination and monitoring to be factored in.], nuclear power produced a volume of greenhouse gases second only to coal. Nevertheless, according to the Strategic Plan, we can look forward to the nuclear industry trying to paint itself green.
PUSHING NUCLEAR ENERGY ABROAD
The nuclear industry's effort to survive and expand through exports has been of concern to energy activists. Contacts with representatives from Taiwan, Thailand, and Indonesia show nuclear exporting companies putting pressure on developing economies to go nuclear. Threats have reportedly been made regarding favored trade status to nations who are reluctant to take the nuclear option. [Ed: See article in Worldwatch, April 1994]
THE ILLUSION OF CONTROL
A great deal of effort is being expended to try to understand peoples' willingness to accept risk. The nuclear industry is finding that people feel safer driving a car than riding in an airplane, even though driving is more risky. Now the industry feels challenged to offer that same illusion of control with regard to nuclear power. Nuclear proponents feel that the benefits of electrical production outweigh concerns about safety and waste. They are banking on the hope that the public can be convinced to come to the same conclusion. By the turn of the century, one way or the other, we will be called on to make some critical choices. May they be they right ones.
Don Eichelberg, Abalone Alliance Safe Energy Clearinghouse, 2940 Sixteenth St., # 310, San Francisco CA, 94103 USA
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