Skip to main content

Nuclear Energy Winning War Of Public Opinion

By Eric McErlain
Polish scientist Przemyslaw Mastalerz on the futrue of nuclear energy:
The heavy opposition against electric power generation in atomic plants appears to be fading away with growing realization that atomic plants are safer than plants fired with coal because of the high death rate in coal mines. In addition, electricity from atomic plants is cheaper and its supply is more reliable than in the case of wind turbines and solar cells. In the past decades, when the fear of radiation prevailed, no new atomic power plants were built and the demolition of existing ones was considered but this seems to be over now. The fear of radiation is also decreasing with growing realization that low radiation doses are harmless or even beneficial to living creatures.
Thanks to Greenie Watch for the pointer. For NEI's latest public opinion data, click here.

Technorati tags: , , , , ,

Comments

Anonymous said…
Hi,

Contrary to this claim, an ABC/Washington Post poll of June 07, 2005 asked 1000 randomly selected citizens "In general, would you favor or oppose building more nuclear power plants at this time?"
64% said "Opposed"
34% said "Favor"
2% were "Undecided"

With regard to claim posted here that there is less fear about radiation because it is more broadly recognized that "a-little-dose-a-do-ya" you must have missed the June 2005 release of the National Academy of Sciences report on the Biological Effects of Ionizing Radiation (BEIR)VII once again confirming no safe dose threshold for radiation exposures.

I didnt notice any NEI Blog response to BEIR VII? Did I miss something? So the "beneficial dose of radiation" claim appears to be is once again unsubstantiated.

But, hey, its your blog...

Paul, NIRS
July 26, 2005 at 3:36 PM
Eric McErlain said…
On BEIR VII, our press operation was all over it. Just because we don't write about it on the blog doesn't mean NEI wasn't commenting.

Click here for our take on that topic.
July 26, 2005 at 3:45 PM
Kelly L Taylor said…
Donnie's comment here:
http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=10911751&postID=112290493069507609

applies to this post, as well!
August 1, 2005 at 3:12 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Fluor Invests in NuScale

By
You know, it’s kind of sad that no one is willing to invest in nuclear energy anymore. Wait, what? NuScale Power celebrated the news of its company-saving $30 million investment from Fluor Corp. Thursday morning with a press conference in Washington, D.C. Fluor is a design, engineering and construction company involved with some 20 plants in the 70s and 80s, but it has not held interest in a nuclear energy company until now. Fluor, which has deep roots in the nuclear industry, is betting big on small-scale nuclear energy with its NuScale investment. "It's become a serious contender in the last decade or so," John Hopkins, [Fluor’s group president in charge of new ventures], said. And that brings us to NuScale, which had run into some dark days – maybe not as dark as, say, Solyndra, but dire enough : Earlier this year, the Securities Exchange Commission filed an action against NuScale's lead investor, The Michael Kenwood Group. The firm "misap...
1 comment
Read more

Wednesday Update

By
From NEI’s Japan micro-site: NRC, Industry Concur on Many Post-Fukushima Actions Industry/Regulatory/Political Issues • There is a “great deal of alignment” between the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the industry on initial steps to take at America’s nuclear energy facilities in response to the nuclear accident in Japan, Charles Pardee, the chief operating officer of Exelon Generation Co., said at an agency briefing today. The briefing gave stakeholders an opportunity to discuss staff recommendations for near-term actions the agency may take at U.S. facilities. PowerPoint slides from the meeting are on the NRC website. • The International Atomic Energy Agency board has approved a plan that calls for inspectors to evaluate reactor safety at nuclear energy facilities every three years. Governments may opt out of having their country’s facilities inspected. Also approved were plans to maintain a rapid response team of experts ready to assist facility operators recoverin...
Post a Comment
Read more

Nuclear Utility Moves Up in Credit Ratings, Bank is "Comfortable with Nuclear Strategy"

By
Some positive signs that nuclear utilities can continue to receive positive ratings even while they finance new nuclear plants for the first time in decades: Wells Fargo upgrades SCANA to Outperform from Market Perform Wells analyst says, "YTD, SCG shares have underperformed the Regulated Electrics (total return +2% vs. +9%). Shares trade at 11.3X our 10E EPS, a modest discount to the peer group median of 11.8X. We view the valuation as attractive given a comparatively constructive regulatory environment and potential for above-average long-term EPS growth prospects ... Comfortable with Nuclear Strategy. SCG plans to participate in the development of two regulated nuclear units at a cost of $6.3B, raising legitimate concerns regarding financing and construction. We have carefully considered the risks and are comfortable with SCG’s strategy based on a highly constructive political & regulatory environment, manageable financing needs stretched out over 10 years, strong partners...
Post a Comment
Read more