Most people are aware that there is sometimes inaccuracy in the facts that the press report to their readers. There are others that take what is told to them with a grain of salt. Sometimes these inaccuracies, or lies if you prefer, can do a lot of damage because people take this misinformation as fact.
Nowhere is this more apparent than in the debate about nuclear power. Because the goal to find an alternative energy source to power our world is foremost, there has been much discussion of a possible “nuclear renaissance.”
The World Information Service on Energy or WISE has taken the time to clear up some of the more blatantly false statements that have been made. They are concerned that these falsehoods will take hold in the mind of the people as fact, as they are repeated over and over again. The danger lies in the fact that these nuclear lies will be quoted and repeated so many times, that in time they become many people’s truth.
One such misconception is that nuclear power plants do not emit CO2. It was Vice President of the United States, Dick Cheney that made this statement to reporters from CNN. That is a blatant falsehood. There is plenty of CO2 emitted when uranium is milled and mined as well as in the construction of the nuclear power plant. If you take the whole cycle of fuel into account, it is said that nuclear power gives off as much as five times as much carbon dioxide as a renewable energy source.
Another false fact floating around is that energy from nuclear power is cheaper than other sources. This fact is based on the production costs of nuclear power. They forgot to include the huge cost of capital that is involved in creating nuclear power. It wasn’t until the government deregulated nuclear power that the consumer bailed out the nuclear utilities by paying “stranded costs.”
