The unlikely friend of nuclear energy
Greenpeace co-founder jumps ship
By KATHY KAHN

His former colleagues may be frosty, but Patrick Moore got a warm reception from the business community at Casa Mia Manor House in Blauvelt Nov. 9. The co-founder of Greenpeace is now chairman and chief scientist for Greenspirit Strategies Ltd., while acting as a consultant to the New York Affordable Reliable Electricity Alliance.

Moore’s new mission: to dispel the myths of 1970s blockbuster “The China Syndrome,” which was released just a few months prior to the partial reactor meltdown at Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania. Less than a decade later, Russia’s 1986 Chernobyl disaster created nightmares of nuclear proportion in public perception.

Despite its capacity for devastation, nuclear energy is a tremendous positive source when used for constructive purposes, says Moore: a less dangerous and more reliable energy source than carbon-based fuels.

While Moore has no complaints about harnessing wind, water or solar power, “It’s a problem if the wind stops blowing or the sun isn’t out.” And there are no more suitable locations for building hydroelectric dams, he says: “All the good spots have been taken long ago.” And nuclear power, says Moore, will reduce the growing burden on earth’s carbon-laden atmosphere in a reliable, efficient way.

Buchanan’s Indian Point power plant is one of “politicians’ favorite targets, as easy rallying point to upset the public, but the fact is, it is supplying two-thirds of New York City’s electric power,” says Moore. “And a nuclear power plant cannot go off like a

bomb, despite the claims politicians ply on the public. It’s a scare tactic.

“What happened at Three Mile Island was the worst possible thing that could happen,” he says. Not downplaying the seriousness of the 1979 event, Moore noted “not a single life was lost … and much was learned as a result.”

The 1986 Chernobyl accident, however, was another story: “The Russians took shortcuts and used graphite core reactors. And since graphite is pure carbon, Chernobyl continued to burn for three solid weeks.”

Moore claims there is a scientific theory that a “little bit of radiation may actually be good for you.”

With $100-plus-per-barrel oil prices seemingly on the horizon and consumers already gasping at the pump, Moore says scientists may not have perfected the nuclear-powered car (yet), but he certainly embraces the use of nuclear energy as a way to produce the megawatts needed to benignly sustain humanity’s thirst for electric power. Nuclear energy is “less deadly to our atmosphere, less costly in terms of damage done to our planet and has the ability to supply us with power for hundreds of generations to come.”

Nuclear waste disposal is another hot topic and one Moore says can be tackled by legislators in Washington who are stalling the approvals for the chosen site, Yucca Mountain outside Beatty, Nev. “Done right, disposal can be contained in ways that will allow future generations to use the plutonium and uranium left behind after the rods decay.”

It’s not, of course, that cut and dry. Among those fighting Yucca are Native Americans, who claim the land and who want nothing to do with either the nuclear waste or what they view as Washington’s arrogance on the issue. A little radiation is good for you? How much? Does Murphy’s law apply to seemingly every facet of life except the nuclear industry? Small wonder ex-Greenpeacer Moore has been cyber-shredded by former members of Greenpeace and other activist groups on this and other issues.

Ultimate disillusionment with the organization he helped to found, says Moore, came when he “realized I was not working with scientists, but with a group of people with no scientific background who wanted to find something wrong with everything. I wanted to work with other scientists who could find something right.”

With the US consuming 25 per cent of the world’s gas supply ­ by Moore’s standards, a travesty ­ getting Americans to become energy savvy, even in everyday usage, can get the ball rolling in the right direction. “Using fluorescent light bulbs, just turning out the lights, saves energy. It’s not that difficult an equation. It just takes common sense. If people are considering changing the way they heat their homes from oil to geothermal, the cost may be a bit more, but the savings to the homeowner, as well as to the atmosphere, pays for itself. If nothing else, think of the money you’ll save in the long run.”

The Rockland Business Association, which sponsored Moore at its monthly membership breakfast, will be starting a new subsidiary group in January called the Clean Tech Council. Al Samuels, the association’s president, hopes businesses will participate “to explore ways to clean the environment.”

 

 

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