Those who pay attention to the climate wars know that the green movement has little use for nuclear power, despite its zero carbon emissions, its physically tiny footprint compared to wind and solar, its much lower environmental impact (the massive mining of rare earth metals and the landfilling of turbine blades alone make that point), and its already-in-use status. Moments of ill-considered honesty from eco-warriors have told us why: they fear nuclear will undermine their ability to impose central control and planning on economies.

This is the reality behind all the climate change fear-mongering. It’s not about saving the planet. If it were, we’d be hearing much more about geo-engineering, we’d be witnessing initiatives towards fielding modern, modular nuclear reactor designs, and we’d witness an abandonment of the opposition to fracking (which has prompted a shift from coal to gas and a commensurate reduction in carbon emissions (gas produces 4x the energy per unit of carbon)).

Recent news out of Europe validates this reality. France, which gets nearly 3/4 of its electricity from nuclear power, was recently rebuffed in being given credit for the “green-ness” of nuclear power, as if that green-ness is a matter of political opinion rather than science and fact. This is ludicrous on its face, and it should reinforce our resolve in opposing the Democratic Socialists Green New Deal, which carries all the same hallmarks.

It also raises some interesting questions. Wind and solar power are adjuncts. Barring a breakthrough in storage tech (while progress is being made, we’re not there yet, and you cannot predict an invention, no matter how much money you throw at research), they cannot be relied on to provide base capacity (sometimes it’s night, sometimes it’s cloudy, sometimes the wind doesn’t blow). That means backup generation is required, and since that generation needs the ability to cycle up and down rapidly, natural gas power generation is the best option. If nuclear power is taken off the table as part of a “greening” of Europe’s energy supply, the hard reality of renewables’ unreliability will necessitate greater reliance on natural gas-based electricity.

Guess where almost half of Europe’s natural gas imports (the EU imports fully half its energy) come from?

Somewhere, Putin is smiling.

• About the Author

About Peter Venetoklis

I am twice-retired, a former rocket engineer and a former small business owner. At the very least, it makes for interesting party conversation. I'm also a life-long libertarian, I engage in an expanse of entertainments, and I squabble for sport.

Nowadays, I spend a good bit of my time arguing politics and editing this website.

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