Carbon-free and Nuclear-free can mean we no longer need energy wars

Global Heating So, What about nuclear power? WPSR May 2009

Nuclear power is NOT carbon-free AND it is dirty, dangerous, expensive, and too slow to reverse global warming WPSR May 2009

Nuclear Energy is NOT Carbon-free Midnite uranium mine - Idaho - photo Jamie Kneen – 2005 Mining and milling and enriching uranium ore.. 38% Construction % Operation (mostly downtime backup) % Fuel processing & waste disposal* % Decommissioning % * No nuclear fuel rods have been permanently disposed of anywhere in the world WPSR May

Eight reasons to avoid nuclear power 1. Nuclear waste 2. Nuclear weapons proliferation 3. Dirty bombs 4. Chernobyl revisited ($350 billion so far) 5. Wall Street jitters (90 seconds = $90 billion) 6. A more vulnerable energy system 7. Less for investment in sustainable energy 8. Radiation risks WPSR May 2009

1. Nuclear waste WPSR May 2009

Reprocessing Problems: No nation has a commercially viable reprocessing facility France still runs a highly subsidized plant End products are plutonium or plutonium mixed with uranium plus other highly toxic radioactive contaminants in the liquid wastes Hanford waste tank WPSR May 2009

High Level Radioactive Wastes: DOE and GNEP WPSR May 2009

2. Nuclear weapons proliferation WPSR May 2009

Three dozen countries, including Iran, Japan, Brazil, Argentina, Egypt, Taiwan, South Korea, and Turkey, have the technological capacity to make nuclear weapons Proliferation WPSR May 2009

3. Dirty bombs WPSR May 2009

4. Chernobyl revisited ($350 billion so far) WPSR May 2009

Chernobyl after April 26, 1986 WPSR May 2009

Trip booked with Chernobyl Tour - Ecological Tour to Chernobyl Nuclear Power PlantChernobyl Tour - Ecological Tour to Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant WPSR May 2009

Were directly in front of the sarcophagus now. The geiger counter is going mental. Its getting unnerving at this stage. Stand here for too long, and youll be going home with a healthy green glow. Some dumbass takes off his hat and puts it on the ground while he poses for a picture, Yuri almost kills him. 'DONT PUT STUFF ON THE GROUND!!!'. Dumbass. WPSR May 2009

Pripyat 2008 WPSR May 2009

5. Wall Street jitters (90 seconds = $90 billion loss) WPSR May 2009

Nuclear energy is expensive "For every dollar you spend on nuclear, you could have saved five or six times as much carbon with efficiency, or wind farms." Benjamin K. Sovacool Research fellow at the National University of Singapore WPPSS plants 2 & 3 at Satsop, WA WPSR May 2009

Federal Energy R&D Expenditures * WPSR May 2009

Electricity subsidies First 15 years (in billion 1999 dollars) Renewable Energy Policy Project, July 2000 WPSR May 2009

Energy R&D in 2006 WPSR May 2009

Price-Anderson Act Senate report : …the problem of reactor safety will be to a great extent solved and the insurance people will have had an experience on which to base a sound program of their own. Pooled coverage for 103 plants = $9.8 billion Chernobyl - $350 billion already paid by Russia, Ukraine and Belarus WPSR May 2009

Nuclear Engineering International Magazine – August 18, 2005 Standard & Poor says that while the Energy Policy Act of 2005 is a small positive step for the utility and energy industries, the credit implications of the various provisions are, for the most part, marginal to the credit quality of industry participants.

6. A more vulnerable energy system WPSR May 2009

Nuclear power accident near NYC? Worst-case accident or attack for Indian Point nuclear plant 35 miles north of NYC could cause up to 43,700 immediate fatalities and up to 518,000 long-term cancer deaths Could cost up to $2.1 trillion Could force relocation of 11.1 million people -- Dr. Ed Lyman, UCS, Sept 2004, using NRC methodology WPSR May 2009

7. Less for investment in sustainable energy WPSR May 2009

Scaling up nuclear power will slow our response to global warming US government estimates for earliest completion of new nuclear power plants: 2014 for current design 2025 for advanced (Generation IV) design Cost overruns incurred in building the latest generation of nuclear power plants: $150+ billion (2005 dollars) -- UCS Position Paper on Nuclear Power and Global Warming, March 2007 WPSR May 2009

Besides the nuclear weapon states, about three dozen countries, including Iran, Japan, Brazil, Argentina, Egypt, Taiwan, South Korea, and Turkey, have the technological capacity to make nuclear weapons. Power plants are announced terrorist targets and meltdown risks. No country has so far been able to address the significant long-term health, environmental and safety problems associated with spent fuel or high level waste disposal, even as official assessments of the risk of harm from exposure to radiation continue to increase. 8 Since the early 1980s, Wall Street has been, and remains, skeptical of nuclear power due to its expense and risk. Additional risks from nuclear power WPSR May 2009

8. Radiation risks to workers and local communities WPSR May 2009

Fossil fuels are used in uranium mining WPSR May 2009

Summary of doubling dose estimates for lung cancer in uranium miners Archer (1967) WLM* Hewitt (1980) - Ontario O WLM Newfoundland O WLM Sevc (1976) ~50 WLM US EPA (1980) ~40 WLM Ellett (1980) WLM BEIR-II (1972) WLM BCMA (1980) - NIOSH & Sevc WLM BEIR-III (198O) WLM Axelson (1980) WLM * 1 WLM (working level month) = 1000 times background radiation levels WPSR May 2009

Global Heating Its redressable! Here are some alternatives WPSR March 2009

Microalgae have been demonstrated to capture over 80 percent of the daytime CO2 emissions from power plants and can be used to produce up to 10,000 gallons of liquid fuel per acre per year. Water hyacinths have similar efficiency of solar energy capture and can be grown in wastewater as part of combined water treatment and energy production systems. WPSR May 2009

Grass to biofuel The use of fossil fuels to power the process releases 0.3 tonnes of CO2 per hectare per year - but the growing grasses store 4.4 tonnes of CO2 in the roots and soil, meaning the net result is 4.1 tonnes removed from the atmosphere. WPSR May 2009

Multi-Junction Solar Cell The latest multi-junction solar cell technology has been used in these cells which enables more of the solar spectrum to be captured than is the case with conventional silicon solar cells. Each multi-junction solar cell is made of layers with each layer designed to capture one range of wavelengths of sunlight. This increases the number of photons whose band gaps are matched and so more sunlight is absorbed and converted into electric current increasing overall efficiency. For example, if silicon is alloyed with carbon in a layer, the band gap increases and more blue light is absorbed. Conversely, if silicon is alloyed with germanium in another layer, the band gap is decreased and more red light is absorbed. These new solar cells also use an optical concentrator (5) to increase the intensity of the sunlight hitting each solar cell. More photons of light equals more electricity generated and so efficiency is further increased. The US Department of Energy believe that solar cells with such high efficiencies will eventually lead to installation costs of just $3 per watt and generate electricity at a competitive 8-10 cents per kWh. Spectrolab scientists believe that these multi- junction solar cells are capable of even higher efficiencies in the near future.

In 2007, according to the Global Wind Energy Council, more than 20,000 megawatts of capacity were installed internationally, with the United States, Spain, and China leading the way.

WPSR May 2009

What You Can Do Green your personal lives Green investments Green policies local, state, nation, international/UN/treaties WPSR May 2009

How any one of us can make our world a better place Take loving care of yourself and your family Find ways to make the work you do a mission of love and understanding Offer what you do best to help solve the problems you care most about Give generously of your time, talents and resources Remain faithful to the best interests of our childrens grandchildren Remember, Life is sacred as is the Earth that supports all life WPSR May 2009

by Arjun Makhijani, Ph.D. A Joint Project of the Nuclear Policy Research Institute and the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research IEER Press and RDR Books, pages, paperback WPSR May 2009

Hanford Clean-up Trident WMDs WPSRs areas of activism Global Warming Toxins-free Environment Hanford Task Force Energy & Peace Committee Environment & Human Health Committee

Goodbye carbon fuels, new nuclear waste, and nuclear proliferation Hello sun, wind, water, geothermal and weeds WPSR May 2009