September 11 is the 10th anniversary of the infamous terrorist attacks. It also marks six months since the Fukushima earthquake and tsunami, a disaster that triggered global soul-searching about nuclear energy.
One result was Germany’s decision to phase out nuclear power by 2022. Much of the rest of the world, however, is returning to the business of building new nuclear power plants.
China is preparing to resume construction on 26 nuclear power plants after completing a post-Fukushima safety review. And Japan, the epicenter of the nuclear energy shock, is aiming to renew its nuclear technology export efforts.
This return to business as usual underscores the need to accurately assess the risks and costs of nuclear energy, and to push for greater investment in renewable energy. “Nuclear energy is only a stop gap as it too uses a finite fuel,” said Sheila Bailey, a physicist and photovoltaics expert at NASA Glenn Research Center. Bailey said she prefers nuclear energy over coal, but “there is much more potential for renewable energy than we have chosen to exploit.”
Stephen Salter, emeritus professor at the Institute for Energy Systems of the University of Edinburgh put it more bluntly: “Fission energy is an expensive, dangerous short term way to make the next generation pay for our electricity.”
