


Its the same tired tactics and hot air from radical environmental groups








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RE: Don't lump us all together
By atomicrod on 6/6/2009 5:01:22 AM , Rating: 5
I am also an environmentalist who is strongly supportive of nuclear power. Whenever I read about efforts to shut down an operating reactor or to slow or stop the construction of a new one, I follow the advice of the guy in the movie "Follow the Money".

The main financial beneficiaries of any effort to reduce the production of electricity from atomic fission are the people who sell coal, oil and natural gas to the plants that produce electricity through fossil fuel combustion.

Less fission = more sales for the fossil fuel industry. The amount is non-trivial; shutting down a single 650 MWe nuclear plant increases fossil fuel sales (probably natural gas) by more than $1 million PER DAY in the local area where the plant is shut down.

Perhaps that is why many of the established mainstream environmental groups are so well supported and have so many members who are "establishment" figures. In the American economy, fossil fuel based wealth has a very long and deep history of domination. Think about where Rockefeller, Pew, Ford, and countless other foundations got their endowments. When Ted Turner is not building networks, he is drilling for gas in the high desert. ( T. Boone Pickens, the current darling of the mainstream environmental groups is a long time gas salesman.

Follow the money and stop blaming "environmentalists" for opposition to nuclear power. Scratch the surface of the groups to find their real financial support.

Rod Adams
Publisher, Atomic Insights

RE: Don't lump us all together
By Danish1 on 6/6/2009 7:29:14 AM , Rating: 5

Never underestimate the stupidity of people in large groups.

In this case the large group would be Greenpeace.

I do believe you're on to something though.

RE: Don't lump us all together
By mmntech on 6/7/2009 6:12:49 PM , Rating: 4
Greenpeace and World Wildlife Fund. I love to have a good laugh at how ludicrous Earth Hour is.
I don't buy the argument that about oil companies trying to discourage nuclear power, or all the other things they're accused of financially meddling with. It's a tired, hack argument. It's conveniently never brought up that environmental NGOs have huge financial steaks in these kinds of issues. The fact that Greenpeace made $300 million US in revenue in 2007 speaks for itself.

The issue with nuclear is that people immediately think of Chernobyl. Something that neo-luddite environmental groups capitalize on. One major incident in some 50 years of nuclear energy is not enough to label it as dangerous. Chernobyl was disastrous but it was so because of the incompetence of the Soviet designers who failed to incorporate even the most basic safety systems into its design. Renewable sources such as solar and wind power are important in supplementing our power supply but they cannot entirely replace thermal and nuclear plants. I read a journal article last summer that stated that the entire island of Kyushu would have to be covered in solar panels just to power Tokyo alone. No matter how many twisty light bulbs you make people install, it's not going to change the trend of increasing energy demand. It's too late to turn the clocks back. Nuclear power is absolutely necessary. Environmentalists are only delaying the inevitable. In the mean time, energy shortages are putting a huge tax on the grid, costing the world's economies billions.

RE: Don't lump us all together
Well said.

RE: Don't lump us all together
By AlexWade on 6/6/2009 7:47:24 AM , Rating: 3
Big Oil and Big Coal are not the ones who are stopping nuclear power. Sure, they may have a financial incentive to stop it. However, why would Big Oil and Big Coal willingly fund a group who is opposed to what they do? Why give money to a group who is actively trying to stop you from making money? As you say, follow the money. The way Big Coal is stopping nuclear power is by running TV commercials advertising clean coal technology. And then lets face it, Big Oil knows it will be at least decades before a viable alternative comes along.


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