Nuclear Power Lie

national | environment | opinion/analysis

Saturday March 04, 2006 15:22

by Keith Martin - Independent

One of the biggest lies to emerge over the year was the lie that nuclear power is the solution to the problems of climate change.

Joeseph Gobbels, the Nazi propaganda chief, once said the bigger the lie the more people will believe it. In many respects he was correct. Even today in the 21st Century, the ‘information age’, with all the media we have access to, it is still possible to proliferate a big lie.

One of the biggest lies to emerge over the year was the lie that nuclear power is the solution to the problems of climate change. Climate change is coming about slowly due to the combustion of carbon fuels and the spread of the by-product gasses into the atmosphere where they damage the Ozone layer. Nuclear power, the lie goes, can end our dependence and use of these fuels and thus halt climate change. But so can solar power, wind power, wave power, tidal power, and the use of Biodiesel and oil crop fuels none of which cause climate change and none of which give off by-products that will remain radioactive for thousands of years.

The truth is that the real reason nuclear power is being mooted is two-fold. Firstly there is still a substantial nuclear lobbying body out there made up of companies that build and run such power stations. Many of these companies, since the discrediting of nuclear power, are on the brink of financial ruin and they see this as an opportunity for a return to the good days and are currently portraying nuclear power as ‘environmentally friendly.’

Even worse than nuclear power companies repositioning themselves as saviours of the environment is the real reason for the proposed comeback of nuclear power. The real reason is not because the powers-that-be are so concerned about the environment but are in fear of the end of fossil fuels and our reliance on them.

Nuclear power as a source of power and the solution to climate change has become a mainstream issue once again since the price of oil went sky-high. This coupled with how easy it was for the Russia to switch off the gas to the Ukraine has forced them to realise how much at the mercy of other fossil fuel producing states that we all are.
So to counter this they have started looking to another form of power and have come up with nuclear power; but how to sell it to the public who wisely shun it as dangerous, dirty and don‘t want it next or near them? Now for the big lie that goes ‘nuclear power is the solution to climate change!’ So there it is, the big lie.

The only thing to counter it is the big truth. The big truth is that climate change, if the sources of it are unchecked, could make Ireland uninhabitable within a thousand years, Nuclear power could make our country uninhabitable within hours.