Gas and Nukes not Climate Solutions

By FRANK LINGO

The European Union has plans to classify some nuclear plants and natural gas plants as green solutions to the climate crisis. A Jan. 4, 2022 New York Times article said the EU plan would have nukes and gas be a transitional phase that would last until 2045, while allegedly polluting less than coal.

Some American politicians with seemingly good intentions have long advocated for nuclear because it doesn’t emit carbon like burning of fossil fuels does. But should we trade the obvious emission issues of coal plants for the subtler problems of nuclear?

First, disposal of the radioactive waste from nuclear power has never been resolved. Estimates of how long the dangers linger from the spent fuel and rods are purely guesswork. They range from 10,000 to a million years.

Second, nuclear uses a ginormous quantity of water, around 40% of all the freshwater used in the U.S. A large plant can use at least ONE BILLION GALLONS A DAY! Most of it doesn’t get contaminated but it gets heated from cooling the nuke. This hot water gets released back into our rivers with harmful, even life-threatening effects on fish and aquatic life, both plants and animals, which are sensitive to big temperature changes in their habitat.

Third, there are still the potentials of sabotage and accidents. Bad guys could steal the uranium and use it for weapons. And we saw the horrifying effects of the disasters at Chernobyl and Fukushima. There are U.S. nuclear plants with the same design as Fukushima, so promises that it can’t happen here aren’t comforting.

Nuke advocates say the new facilities will be much smaller and less dangerous. Maybe so but that still doesn’t make them safe.

Money is always an issue. Amory Lovins, the founder of Rocky Mountain Institute, noted in a 2019 Forbes article that nuclear is more expensive to operate than it earns. Lovins cited a study by the financial house Lazard showing nuclear plants costing about 3 times more than wind or solar production.

Natural gas is the other so-called bridge to the future. It’s supposed to be the cleanest of the fossil fuels.

But is it really? National Geographic headlined a 2020 article, “Natural gas is a much ‘dirtier’ fuel source than we thought.”

NatGeo notes that natural gas has replaced coal in many power plants but that gas is primarily composed of methane, which is about 90 times more effective at trapping heat than carbon dioxide.

Leaks of natural gas are a recurring problem, and so is the extraction of it from the ground.

The Independent Petroleum Association of America states on its website that fracking (which produces about 2/3 of the natural gas in America) has been safely used since 1947 and is a uniquely American success story that has provided immense benefits.

I guess the IPAA hasn’t heard about the study by the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Global Public Health. In 2019, Environmental Health News outlined the report about hydraulic fracturing, the practice of injecting pressurized water deep under ground to break shale deposits. It is linked to water pollution, air pollution, high-risk pregnancies and a steep increase in earthquakes.

There’s also danger to the frackers in the form of silicosis, a potentially deadly respiratory disease. Then there’s the disproportionate occurrence of fracking in minority areas.

If the local effects aren’t bad enough, the study says that natural gas climate consequences may be worse than coal, if all the methane leaks are accurately measured.

That’s a lot of bad news, but the good news is that renewable energy is burgeoning, while the cost of it is plummeting. Germany has surpassed 50% of its power from sustainable sources. Kansas has wind farms dotting the prairie, providing over 40% of the state’s electric power. Huge solar installations are being built around the world.

Bottom line is that renewables are THE doable resource, not by 2045, but right now for human safety and climate harmlessness - if we just have the will and vision to put them on the grid.

Frank Lingo, based in Lawrence, Kansas, is a former columnist for the Kansas City Star and author of the novel “Earth Vote.” Email: lingofrank@gmail.com.

From The Progressive Populist, February 1, 2022

Populist.com