I am increasingly convinced that in order for us to survive the 21st century, we (individually and collectively) must accept two principles of living:
1) We are all connected to each other and to our environment.
2) All energy for our homes, firms, factories and farms must be clean and renewable.
We probably have less than two generations to transition. Right now things are not looking good.
We stand at a crossroads concerning how we fuel our vehicles and power our homes. Electric vehicles (EVs) are a good replacement for carbon-fueled cars, but only if we charge them with renewable energy (geothermal, wind, solar, tidal, even biomass). Any other approach will require greater demand for increasingly limited electricity. In fact, if every household in America suddenly bought an electric car averaging 5 kilowatt-hours to top off each day, household electric demand would increase about 20 percent (adding perhaps 10 percent more demand to an already overloaded grid nationally).
Over the next two years 2,500 electric vehicle charging stations are slated to be built in the Seattle area. Across the country the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is providing $100 million in grants for building charging stations in five areas: Tennessee, Oregon, San Diego, Seattle and Phoenix-Tucson. DOE is not funding solar electric charging stations, even though this technology has been in place for two decades. So where will the additional power come from?
What do all five regions mentioned above have in common? They either utilize nuclear power extensively and/or have ongoing nuclear waste disposal challenges. So what’s a bit more nuclear waste added to the mix?
Nuclear power is suddenly in vogue, advertised as a source of “non-carbon emitting” electricity (not true, if mining and refining nuclear fuel are taken into account). Because the Copenhagen Climate Summit failed to produce any binding agreements, nuclear power is our default solution to reducing utility carbon emissions. Currently all of the climate bills pending in Washington, D.C., are pro-nuclear. Starting this month, DOE is allocating $20 billion per month, up to $100 billion per year, for construction of new nuclear power plants.
Nuclear power economics make no sense. We taxpayers face upfront costs of up to $15 per watt to build nuclear reactors; without taking into account future fuel costs, future costs of nuclear waste disposal plus increased hazards to public health and safety. This is money that is being stolen from renewable energy. Wind power at the utility scale costs about $5 per watt (installed) and solar electric power costs about $6 per watt (installed).
Consider nuclear power’s threat to public safety. The reason the U.S., Europe and Israel are concerned about Iran’s nuclear power ambitions (building nuclear power plants) is because every nuclear power plant has the potential to become a nuclear bomb factory. A 1-gigawatt nuclear power plant produces 500 pounds of plutonium per year as a waste byproduct. It takes just 10 pounds of plutonium to build a Nagasaki-style atomic bomb. Plutonium is the most toxic carcinogen known to man. If ingested, a millionth of a gram causes terminal cancer.
Since the Carter administration, two important policies have been in effect: 1) civilian nuclear plants cannot reprocess waste and 2) we cannot dump spent fuel into the ocean (as we once did until the late 1970s). Permanent disposal of nuclear waste has become politically impossible. As a result, more than half of our civilian spent fuel is now stored above ground in air casks because “temporary” water containment facilities on site were in many cases exhausted decades ago.
Should we trust the nuclear power industry to police itself for reactor construction, maintenance and waste disposal? We cannot rely on a Nuclear Regulatory Commission that is funded primarily by fees from nuclear power plants, because conflicts of interest have led to decades of lax security and safety oversight.
Are we to believe nearly a generation after Chernobyl that nuclear power is no longer a grave threat to our environment and our public health? Since Chernobyl, about 40 percent of Europe has detectable levels of radioactive cesium and strontium in the soil. Vegetation absorbs these elements and because chemically these elements behave like calcium, they accumulate in those who eat contaminated produce causing leukemia, birth defects and a host of genetic diseases.
Nuclear power is a growing menace for humankind. We need to phase out nuclear power, not promote it.
We have ample renewable energy sources from the Earth and Sun if we choose to harness them.
Eric Teegarden of Brier owns Earth Solar Consulting. He ran for Snohomish PUD commissioner in 2006.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
