Renewables are more effective for national carbon reductions than nuclear power

An analysis of 123 countries over 25 year period of data collected from the World Bank and International Energy Agency by the University of Sussex Business School, UK and the International School of Management in Munich, Germany conclude that “diverse renewables are generally proving, in the real world, to be crucially more effective than nuclear power at reducing climate disruption.”  Accordingly, “If countries want to lower emissionsas substantially, rapidly and cost-effectively as possible, they should prioritize support for renewables, rather than nuclear power.” As Beyond Nuclear has recognized, it is dangerously irrational to continue to pursue nuclear power as a energy policy and climate crisis abatment strategy. 

The paper published in Nature Energy is entitled “Differences in carbon emissions reduction between countries pursuing renewable electricity versus nuclear power” by Sovacool, Schmid, Stirling, Walter and MacKerron. Accordingly, “The authors find it “troubling” that it “appears that countries planning large-scale investments in new nuclear power are risking the suppression of greater climate benefits from alternative renewable energy investments.” Nuclear and renewable energy are mutually antagonistic for investment, policy and deployment where one will crowd out the other.”  The challenge becomes choosing between entrenched or democratically-selected interests.

Now, according to one of the paper’s authors, Patick Schmid, “In certain large country samples the relationship between renewable electricity and CO2-emissions is up to seven times stronger than the corresponding relationship for nuclear.” Nuclear power is not only  increasingly unreliable as a climate mitigation strategy, its construction and financing costs continue to skyrocket making project completion and deployment increasingly a risky and unreliable. Meanwhile, renewable energy as diverse and  innovative technologies are increasingly less expensive making it more and more economically attractive with reliable deployment.

ARDETH PLATTE, PRESENTE! 4/10/1936 - 9/30/2020

Since Carol Gilbert, left, and Sister Ardeth Platte, right.Beyond Nuclear has been honored and privileged, over years and decades, to continually bump into Ardeth Platte (pictured, right), a Dominican Sister, on the front lines of anti-nuclear weapons activism. Ardeth was born and raised in Michigan, where she educated troubled children, served on Saginaw city council, and began her anti-nuclear work. In 1995, she moved to Jonah House in Baltimore, where she took part in Plowshares Movement actions. This included a 2002 action, where she, alongside her best friend and frequent collaborator, Sr. Carol Gilbert (pictured, left), as well as Sr. Jackie Hudson, entered a Minuteman III nuclear missile silo in Colorado, wearing white jumpsuits bearing the words "Citizen Weapon Inspection Team." They each served several years in federal prison for that action.

See Sister Ardeth's obituary in the Washington Post, here.

And see the obituary in the New York Times, here.

Court orders payments to former Fukushima residents

A Japanese court has found the government and Tepco, the operator of the wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant, negligent for failing to take measures to prevent the 2011 nuclear disaster, and ordered them to pay 1bn yen ($9.5m) in damages to thousands of residents for their lost livelihoods, The Guardian reports.

The ruling on Wednesday by Sendai high court could open up the government to further damage claims because thousands of other residents evacuated as reactors at the coastal power station overheated and released a radioactive cloud, following the devastating tsunami. While some people have returned home, areas close to the plant are still off limits. Read the full article.

UN High Level Meeting on the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons

The UN General Assembly will hold a High Level Meeting on Oct 2 to commemorate the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons.

Speakers will be mostly high-level government representatives, Prime Ministers, Presidents, Foreign Ministers and UN Ambassadors. However, the President of the UN General Assembly has also invited two representatives of global civil society to address the meeting. They are Saber Chowdhury MP, PNND Co-President and Honorary President of the Inter-Parliamentar Union, and Vanda Proskova (Czech Republic), Vice-Chair of the PragueVision Institute for Sustainable Security. Ms Proskova was also one of the moderators of A Nuclear-Weapon-Free World, for the global civil society event on Sep 26 commemorating the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons.

The event can be watched on UNTV.

Sister Ardeth Platte passes at 84

Dominican Sister, Ardeth Platte, an inveterate campaigner against nuclear weapons, died peacefully in her sleep in the early hours of September 30, in her home at the Dorothy Day Catholic Worker house in Washington, DC. A native of Grand Rapids, MI, an obituary on Community Ways, a website of the Dominican Sisters-Grand Rapids, said of Sister Ardeth:

"Sr. Ardeth carried the burdens of the world willingly, preaching love, peace, and human dignity always. She stood for restorative justice and rehabilitation against a broken criminal justice system, even if it meant being imprisoned herself. Her commitment to universal human rights meant living her life fully dedicated to peace and the abolishment of nuclear weapons."

Her commitment to peace endured over her lifetime, including last weekend, just days before her unexpected death, when she stood on a street corner with an "Abolish Nuclear Weapons NOW!" sign, as part of a Cries from Every Corner action to commemorate the UN International Day to Abolish Nuclear Weapons. She was unafraid to risk arrest and jail time and especially loved speaking to -- and inspiring -- young people.

You can read more about Sister Ardeth and her life and work here. (Photo of Sister Ardeth Platte speaking to the commander of the Büchel Air Base in Germany and handing him a copy of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, by Susan Crane.)