Why many environmentalists are warming to nuclear power

In 1981, young activists staged demonstrations to shut down the Diablo Canyon nuclear reactor in California to protect the environment. Forty years later, young activists staged demonstrations to save the plant to protect the environment. And while opposition persists, recent surveys indicate increasing support for nuclear power among environmentalists.

As a long-time energy and environmental analyst, I know that facts and analysis matter to public and private decision makers, but they are not always determinative. By that, I mean that facts and analysis are not always enough to change opinions and compel action. Interestingly, it is facts and analysis that are changing the hearts and minds of many environmentalists with respect to nuclear power.

Policy and investment analysts are trained to ask two questions about a proposed action: (1) What are the pros and cons (aka costs and benefits) and (2) Compared to what? Forty years ago, many environmentalists were firmly anti-nuclear.  It turns out this positioning was, in many cases, based on an incomplete analysis of these two questions, even considering what was known at the time. In addition, we have learned things over the past forty years that affect the costs and benefits of, and alternatives to, nuclear power. What did we miss? What were we wrong about then? And what have we learned?

One key thing we missed, or perhaps didn’t fully acknowledge and appreciate, was nuclear power’s remarkably positive environmental attributes. In contrast to fossil fuels, nuclear power emits zero air pollution and carbon emissions. In contrast to wind and solar, because nuclear fuel (i.e., uranium) is so energy dense, nuclear power plants can be built at an enormous scale on a very small land footprint. For example, in comparison to nuclear power, solar power needs more than 17 times as much material and 46 times as much land to produce one unit of energy. As demand for clean power increases, the land efficiency of nuclear power becomes increasingly important.

The other important point we missed is the role that nuclear energy can play in the electricity system as a firm complement to the increasing variable renewable power we need, and as a climate solution for meeting other energy needs. Over the past forty years, the effects of climate change have become ever clearer, and energy system analysis has made the grid benefits of nuclear power increasingly obvious. In addition, new advanced nuclear energy technologies that come in smaller sizes and operate at higher temperatures can serve as zero-carbon energy sources for the hard-to-decarbonize manufacturing sector and for the production of zero-carbon fuels like hydrogen.

These huge benefits have prompted a new generation of environmentalists to embrace nuclear power, and many members of the older generations to take a second look. As is the case for any people with strong and long-held views, many environmentalists who grew up anti-nuclear have trouble changing their minds. But many are now revisiting the early concerns about nuclear power — primarily waste, safety and costs — in light of new information and analysis, and are concluding that while these risks are real, they are outweighed by nuclear power’s benefits, and we now know how to manage them. Let’s take these one at a time and review current considerations.

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