NEI Nuclear Notes

Hello from Burlington! I'm at the Society of Environmental Journalists Conference with Melanie Lyons, NEI media relations manager. This morning Patrick Moore spoke on a panel called "Cradle to Grave: New Nukes and Old Radioactive Waste," which focused largely on the safety and economic issues surrounding nuclear power. Patrick was outnumbered on this panel 2-1, as he was joined by Jim Riccio of Greenpeace and former NRC Commissioner Peter Bradford, now of the Union of Concerned Scientists and an adviser to the Grace Energy Initiative . But Patrick held his own and shared a lot of facts about nuclear energy. I'll walk you through the proceedings in case you missed the webcast by Grace Energy Initiative . Jim Riccio spoke first and painted nuclear power plants as prime targets for terrorism. From where I was sitting, it looked like he was doing a bit of fearmongering, basically saying it's only a matter of time before a plant is hit. Patrick Moore refuted this a ...

Co-founder of Greenpeace and leading environmentalist Patrick Moore encouraged his former organization to support nuclear energy at a speech yesterday at Wits University in South Africa. Here is the account from The Times of South Africa: Greenpeace should now go pro-nuke Radioactive waste ‘no longer a problem’ Greenpeace was right to stop the bomb and save the whales, but should never have opposed nuclear energy, the environmental group’s co-founder and former director, Patrick Moore, said in Sandton yesterday. Moore is on a lecture tour of local universities, sponsored by the Nuclear Industry Association of South Africa. “Climate change has made me a strong supporter of nuclear power,” Moore said. Here is another account by Engineering News Online of South Africa: Greenpeace co-founder Moore backs nuclear power . A blog sponsored by South Africa's Mail & Guardian had a less sanguine viewpoint about building more nuclear power plants. Despite the wide range of opinions, nucl...

Dr. Patrick Moore Earlier today we got the news that the original " sensible environmentalist ," Dr. Patrick Moore, was stepping down as co-chair of the CASEnergy Coalition in order to begin enjoying a well-deserved retirement. The following letter was posted  at the CASEnergy Coalition website: Dear Clean and Safe Energy Coalition Members: With more than 3,000 influential members across the nation, the Clean and Safe Energy Coalition has become an important voice in conversations about our country’s energy future. We know that nuclear energy must continue to be part of a solution – not just to our energy challenges, but to our economic and environmental challenges – and the coalition continues to make great strides toward making sure that Americans understand why. The mission endures, and the coalition is stronger than ever, so it is with mixed emotions that I share with you today my decision to retire as Co-Chair of the Clean and Safe Energy Coalition. I will rem...

Later today, Dr. Patrick Moore of the CASEnergy Coalition will take part in a panel discussion sponsored by the Society of Environmental Journalists at their annual conference . The title is, "Is Nuclear Power the Solution to Climate Change," and he'll be joined on the panel by Peter Bradford, former Vice Chair of the NRC and now with the Union of Concerned Scientists as well as Jim Riccio, nuclear policy analyst for Greenpeace. Two anti-nukes and Patrick Moore, I guess that's what SEJ thinks of as "fair and balanced". If I sound a little skeptical of SEJ 's motives, there's a reason, one that David Bradish hinted at earlier this week : SEJ has agreed to allow the anti-nukes at the Grace Energy Initiative to Webcast the panel. In isolation, that's not a problem. The problems started when Grace Energy worked to actively deceive the public into thinking that they were the sponsors of the panel. Here's an excerpt from a press announceme...

Patrick Moore, ex-Greenpeace, sees in nuclear energy an interesting argument for what he terms “environmental justice,” which is true enough, and economic justice, used in the headline, works as well : African-American and Hispanic advocacy groups have historically been focused on civil rights, but they're "morphing into economic development," Moore said, and looking at energy policy for the first time. Unlike many other big industrial facilities, he noted, polls show nuclear power plants have increasing popular support the closer people live to them. Nuclear plants are "wealth creating machines," Moore said, with no pollution, better roads and schools financed by the plants' property taxes, and large payrolls. Moore is right about this. Nuclear energy facilities are also often union shops, which offers a good path to the middle class and out of economic uncertainty. A city of industry can be a world of opportunity and nuclear energy plants have the adde...

Over at Gristmill , Dave Roberts is trying to beat up on Patrick Moore's reputation -- in particular by pointing out that the current head of Greenpeace International, a group that Moore helped found, is an opponent of the expansion of nuclear energy. It's also important to note that Moore served as the organization's first chief scientist. It was this devotion to sound science, not hysteria, that was one of the founding principles of the organization. Apparently it isn't that way anymore . That reminded me of a story I heard Moore tell a couple of months ago when he was in Washington. That day, he recounted a conversation he had with a younger member of Greenpeace who was upset about Moore's stance on nuclear energy . "You're taking advantage of our reputation," said the young activist. "No sir," Moore replied. "Actually, you're the ones who are taking advantage of mine." Technorati tags: Nuclear Energy , Environment , Energy...

Greenpeace co-founder and current co-chair of the Clean and Safe Energy (CASEnergy) Coalition , Patrick Moore, will be appearing on C-SPAN's Washington Journal this morning at 9:30 ET. (Extra bonus: Greta Wodele Brawner will be moderating.) We'll post the video once it becomes available. A live webcast can be seen here . Update : The Moore segment has been archived and can be seen here .

Michael Kanellos of CNet recently interviewed CASEnergy co-chair Patrick Moore . Here's an excerpt: Q: When people look at your biography and see you're a Greenpeace co-founder and now a nuclear advocate, they don't believe it. Could you give us a synopsis of your personal history on this issue? Moore: Well, actually I did feel a little lonely in that corner for a while, but I've been joined by the likes of Stewart Brand, Jared Diamond (author of Guns, Germs, and Steel), and (environmental author) Tim Flannery, and now we form a fairly serious phalanx of pro-nuclear environmentalists. In fact, I'm the honorary chair of the Canadian chapter of Environmentalists for Nuclear Energy, which has 9,000 members worldwide. As a co-founder of Greenpeace, even though I was a scientist, I made the same mistake in those days as all the rest of my colleagues did. We kind of lumped nuclear energy in with nuclear weapons as if all things nuclear were evil. It was an honest mistake...

Patrick Moore, co-chair of the Clean and Safe Energy Coalition (CASEnergy) was a guest on today's edition of E&E TV . Here's an excerpt from the transcript where Moore talks about nonproliferation issues: Patrick Moore: It's unfortunate that a lot of activists insist on making us connect those two things as if they're one and the same, nuclear weapons and nuclear energy, but it isn't true. First thing, you don't need a nuclear reactor to make a nuclear weapon. With the new centrifuge technology you just enrich uranium. That's what Iran is suspected of doing. So there's no nuclear reactor involved in that. They aren't even connected in that sense, because it's easier to make a nuclear bomb with centrifuge technology than it is to use the plutonium from used nuclear fuel after you've had to build a nuclear reactor as well for billions of dollars. Secondly, do you think that if we shut down all the civilian reactors on this planet, there...

Dr. Patrick Moore goes one on one with Anna Aurilio of Public Citizen over the revival of nuclear energy over at Popular Mechanics . They're calling it The Great Nuclear Debate . It's pretty basic stuff, but it's always fun to see Dr. Moore mixing it up on our behalf. Read it right now. Thanks to Instapundit for the pointer. Blue Crab Boulevard noticed too. Technorati tags: Nuclear Energy , Nuclear Power , Electricity , Environment , Energy , Technology , Politics , Patrick Moore , Public Citizen

We've referred to Dr. Patrick Moore, the co-founder of Greenpeace and co-chair of the CASEnergy Coalition , many times here at NEI Nuclear Notes. Back in May, Moore gave a speech at our industry's annual meeting, the 2006 Nuclear Energy Assembly : Technorati tags: Nuclear Energy , Nuclear Power , Electricity , Environment , Energy , Patrick Moore

Patrick Moore is back in Vermont, fighting local anti-nukes over the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant. From the Barrie-Montpelier Times Argus : "Nuclear energy has key environmental benefits," Moore said. With as many as 30 new nuclear plants in the planning stages the United States is joining the rest of the world in a "nuclear renaissance," Moore said. Some of the lawmakers were not impressed. Rep. Sarah Edwards, P-Brattleboro, said that Moore only told part of the story, particularly when he said nuclear power was one of the cheapest sources of electricity. "The federal government has been subsidizing this industry from the very beginning," she said. "My guess is if you look at the history of subsidies on that you will find a huge difference." [...] Rep. Tony Klein, D-East Montpelier, said that if renewable energy sources like solar and wind power got the same subsidies they would be as cost-effective as nuclear electricity. "If only i...

The Wall Street Journal's Environmental Capital blog has an interesting post of a debate between two environmentalists with, shall we say, divergent views of nuclear energy. As it happens, we attended the same debate and Nuclear Energy Overview, the weekly newsletter for Nuclear Energy Institute members, covered it. Here's some excerpts from that story, focused on Arjun Makhijani's comments: A debate last week at The National Press Club in Washington, DC, between two environmentalists – and newsmakers – laid out radically opposing views on commercial nuclear energy. One called it “inherently proliferation prone” and the other labeled it “one of the safest technologies ever invented.” The debaters were Arjun Makhijani, President of the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research , and Patrick Moore, Co-Chairman of the Clean and Safe Energy Coalition ( CASEnergy ) and Co-Founder of Greenpeace . ... The cost of building nuclear ener...

Just off the wire from Entergy: Yonkers, NY-- Calling the Indian Point Energy Center “vitally important to the economic and environmental health of our region,” Mike Kansler, president of Entergy Nuclear Northeast, joined today with former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and noted environmentalist Patrick Moore to announce that the company will seek federal approval to operate the facility for an additional 20-years. Indian Point’s two units in Buchanan, N.Y., generate more than 2,000 megawatts (2 million kilowatts) of clean and affordable power, enough to meet between 18 and 38 percent of the lower Hudson Valley’s and New York City’s electricity needs on any given day. Unlike oil, coal or even natural gas fired plants the facility produces none of the greenhouse gases and other pollutants that contribute to global warming. “Since our purchase of Indian Point five years ago, we have invested hundreds of millions in enhanced security and safety features for these two critically im...

He'll be part of an online chat at washingtonpost.com at the top of the hour to talk about yesterday's opinion piece on nuclear energy . Click here to join the conversation. Nuclear power is dependent upon uranium, which is an element that must be mined. I am left wondering: How is this any more practical than coal mining? Where is uranium found -- and which particular countries are rich in the resource? And, as with coal or oil, won't there eventually be a uranium scarcity problem? Once again, I'll refer back to a June 2005 post by my NEI colleague , Dr. Clifton W. Farrell: Forecasts of new nuclear generation expect approximately 40-60 new reactors worldwide by 2020. This will increase uranium demand to approximately 195 million pounds in 2010 and 240 million pounds by 2020. For an assumed price of $30/lb U3O8, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) estimated world uranium resources in 2003 to be 3,537,000 metric tons, an amount adequate to fuel conventional ...

Patrick Moore is on the move again, this time in Vermont. The Brattleboro Reformer has the details. Technorati tags: Nuclear Energy , Nuclear Power , Environment , Energy , Politics , Technology , Economics , Vermont , Vermont Yankee , Patrick Moore

Iceland Review is running a Q&A with CASEnergy's Patrick Moore today . Here's an excerpt: EW: You left Greenpeace in 1986. Why leave what was perhaps the first environmental organization with clout? PM: I left because I saw my colleagues abandoning science and logic and adopting zero-tolerance policies that made no sense. In many ways, Greenpeace is now promoting policies that are environmentally negative. Genetically modified crops reduce pesticide use; nuclear energy reduces greenhouse gas emissions ; sustainable forestry produces the most abundant renewable material; aquaculture produces healthy oils and protein, and takes pressure off the wild stocks. Technorati tags: Nuclear Energy , Nuclear Power , Electricity , Environment , Energy , Technology , Politics , Patrick Moore

Carl Pope of the Sierra Club -- a charter member of the " no solutions gang " -- trotted out the tired anti-nuclear talking points recently and threw in an attack on Patrick Moore to boot, but I bet he didn't count on responses like Steve Snyder's : I strongly urge Pope --— and open-minded Sierrans --— to consider a realistic growth in the use of nuclear power, rather than demonizing people like Patrick Moore, and myself, as "“nuke cheerleaders,"” with a pejorative taint. As I've written before, there's more support out there than some folks might imagine. Technorati tags: Nuclear Energy , Nuclear Power , Energy , Technology , Environment , Electricity , Carl Pope , Sierra Club , Patrick Moore

New York Times columnist John Tierney just previewed former Vice President Al Gore's new documentary on global warming (free text here ), An Inconvenient Truth , and writes that there were more than a few things missing: Gore shows the obligatory pictures of windmills and other alternative sources of energy. But he ignores nuclear power plants, which don'’t spew carbon dioxide and currently produce far more electricity than all ecologically fashionable sources combined. A few environmentalists, like Patrick Moore, a founder of Greenpeace, have recognized that their movement is making a mistake in continuing to demonize nuclear power. Balanced against the risks of global warming, nukes suddenly look good --— or at least deserve to be considered rationally. Gore had a rare chance to reshape the debate, because a documentary about global warming attracts just the sort of person who marches in anti-nuke demonstrations. Gore could have dared, once he enticed the faithful into the ...

I’ve spent the past week at the American Nuclear Society's (ANS) 2005 Winter Meeting. The theme of the conference was “Talk about Nuclear Differently: A Good Story Untold” and I was thrilled to see the building enthusiasm in the industry. Over the next few days I’ll try to capture some of my thoughts and impressions and I hope other blog contributors will offer theirs as well. The conference began with one of the most interesting plenary sessions I’ve ever attended. Receiving a standing ovation after his remarks was Dr. Patrick Moore who titled his presentation “How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Nuclear Energy.” We’ve mentioned Moore on this blog many times because of his dramatic departure from Greenpeace co-founder to a supporter of nuclear energy, but I’ve never heard him speak. It was riveting. I took copious notes but couldn’t keep up with him so I hope his slides appear at the ANS website and that our friend Rod Adams at Atomic Insights captured the audio file and rec...